


Season 1, Episode 8: Cracks In The Mirror (Season 1 Finale)

by Peaches and RAmen (Peachy00Keen)



Series: Star Trek: Babel [13]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek - Various Authors, Star Trek Online
Genre: Action/Adventure, Christmas Party, Complicated Relationships, Espionage, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hostage Situations, Impersonation, Implied/Referenced Torture, Infiltration, Invasion, M/M, Mirror Universe, Mirror Universe (Star Trek), Multi, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other, Part Two, Party, Promotion, Resolution, Science, Science Fiction, Season Finale, Star Trek References, Star Trek: Babel, Two-Part, gala - Freeform, takeover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 29
Words: 33,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27029362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peachy00Keen/pseuds/Peaches%20and%20RAmen
Summary: Undercover and under pressure, the crew of Babel fights a three-front war against the Mirror Universe infiltrators led by Elias Patterson and Commander Shannon O'Malley's Terran counterpart. Outmanned and outgunned, Babel's crew faces unlikely odds.
Series: Star Trek: Babel [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623328
Comments: 7
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

_Starfleet Headquarters  
San Francisco, Earth  
Stardate 48324.9_  
  
Eli Patterson stared at the other man’s face on the viewscreen. _His_ face. It was still so much to take in, and it still felt impossible to him, despite everything he knew from the classified and unclassified reports on the other universe he’d read over the years. A different reality, one where humans had ruled instead of being bound to the Federation by treaties and shared goodwill. For hundreds of years in that world, humanity had stood proud above all others, safe from any threat except the one from within. It was a vision of what could have been, and one that many of his comrades respected, if not fully supported.  
  
The crossings had been infrequent, either classified or outright buried, daring only to dip into the pool of knowledge that lay beyond the mirror. Eli had read the stories, been enraptured by them for most of his career. Then, a year ago, the unthinkable happened. Kevin, his grandson, his pride and joy, fell at the hand of an ungrateful alien savage on a remote, worthless little world. His future, the Patterson _legacy_ , had been ripped away in a heartbeat. Suddenly, Eli had found his life bereft of meaning. It had been destiny calling when he found the _Dauntless_. A call had come for him in the middle of the night from one of his contacts. It contained a set of coordinates and a subspace communication frequency. He opened a channel without hesitation. He’d been prepared for anything except the sight of his grandson’s face. Now, months later, he was deep in conversation with his counterpart from the other side, preparing for what would be the defining mission of his life.  
  
“Elias,” Admiral Patterson said, acknowledging his counterpart.  
  
The other him nodded. “Eli.”  
  
“How goes your work on the _Dauntless_?”  
  
“Things are proceeding well. I’ve dispatched O’Malley to oversee the repairs of the Federation vessel. They were unprepared for our attack, and my own ship is still fully functional. The Starfleet crew put up a fight, but after we killed the command crew the rest of them fell in line. How are your preparations coming along?”  
  
“The ship is nearly ready,” Eli replied. “The latest off the line at Utopia Planitia. The _USS Babel_ , a Nebula-class starship.”  
  
“A warship?”  
  
“A science vessel,” he corrected. “The Federation has no warships, not officially. It should still outclass any remaining Terran ship and be a formidable threat to your enemies. More importantly, you’ll have the full specifications of its class and many others, from weapons to power systems. Rebuilding an Empire is a long process. You’ll have time to make more.”  
  
His counterpart grimaced. “It will have to do. I’ll expect your report when it launches. Patterson out.”  
  
The screen went dark, and Eli was left alone with his thoughts. He pulled up the crew manifest again and began assembling the list of unfortunate souls who would have to die for his mission. The list was long, with over a hundred officers and thrice that in enlisted personnel.  
  
 _Captain: Raj Murali (retired)_  
  
Raj was the perfect man for this job, and Eli had almost considered letting him in on the truth. He’d been a valuable asset, once, until he started questioning the “right” and “wrong” of their line of work. He’d become a risk, and the chance he’d reveal something he shouldn’t grew by the day. Giving him a command and sending him to his death was the best solution and was a far more dignified end for his old friend than a knife in the dark.  
  
 _First Officer: Lieutenant Shannon O’Malley (Science Officer,_ USS Darwin _)_  
  
O’Malley was a necessity. Part of Elias’ plan involved sending her counterpart, his second in command, to assume command of Babel if an outright capture was impossible. Shannon O’Malley in Eli’s universe was only a Lieutenant, but her captain’s recommendation for a move to a command role gave him just enough justification to promote her and give her the position. Her inexperience and lack of combat training would serve his needs well if she proved to be an obstacle to his allies. He looked down at the rest of the senior staff.  
  
 _Chief of Security: Lieutenant Jessica Barnes (Chief of Security,_ USS Magellan _)  
Chief Engineer: Lieutenant Naazt (Engineer, Starfleet Decommissioning Station Z11)  
Chief Medical Officer: Doctor Clara Dupont (civilian, Hôpital Universitaire Pitié-Salpêtrière)_  
  
The key to assembling the perfect crew was combining experience with natural chemistry and an ability to work well with the ship’s captain. The key for this crew was the opposite. Each was handpicked for their troubled service record, uncooperative personality, or lack of experience. In the case of Lieutenant Barnes, Eli simply wanted vengeance for her failure to protect his grandson.  
  
 _This time, though, I’ve been given a second chance. He may not be my Kevin, but he shares my blood, and that’s enough._


	2. Chapter 2

“It will have to do. I’ll expect your report when it launches. Patterson out.”  
  
Elias closed the channel and slammed a fist on the desk. “A _science vessel_! I ask for a warship, and he sends me a fucking _science vessel_!” Furious, he stormed out of the ready room and onto the bridge.  
  
 _This is just another obstacle, another test,_ he thought _. The greatest Emperors overcame more than this, and I will restore what they once built. Terrans across the galaxy will sing my name next to that of Sherman, Georgiou, and Sato. I will be the Emperor._  
  
“Hail O’Malley on the Federation vessel,” he barked at the man sitting at the communications station. Elias took his seat as the redheaded woman’s face appeared on the screen.  
  
“You asked for me, _Emperor_?”  
  
Elias fought back his rage at her sarcasm. She was too good of a second to have killed, even if she was clearly plotting his own death. That was the way of things, of course, but until his new flagship was safely under his command, he needed her skill.  
  
“Our plans are underway, Commander. My Federation counterpart is readying our new flagship, and it will be here in a few months. I expect your vessel to be combat-ready when this _Babel_ arrives.”  
  
The woman smiled a vicious grin that had enticed and ensnared many a foolish victim. “We’ll be ready, Elias. We’ll be ready.”


	3. Chapter 3

Commander O’Malley stood on the ramp of a retrofitted assault shuttle looking out over the sea of faces in the bay before her. Over the past several months, she and her crew had worked tirelessly to repair and refit their commandeered vessel into something capable of holding its own in a firefight. Now, they were ready to truly set things in motion with the capture of the Federation ship _Babel_ and her crew.  
  
“Listen up,” she called out, and the posture of everyone in the crowd snapped to full attention. “Our covert operatives on the Federation vessel have worked their asses off to make sure that our job is as easy as possible. Our plan is to take the _Vesper_ inside _Babel_ ’s shields and beam aboard the ship while they’re having their little party that my counterpart so conveniently organized for us. Johnson will have locked down the doors of the banquet hall and disabled most of the ship’s systems, allowing us easy access to any point of entry we need. Kase will transmit the shield frequencies for us once we’re in range.  
  
“Alpha Squad, I want you to head for Deck Eleven and secure the area. Make sure Johnson didn’t botch the lockdown. Any hostages that have managed to escape the banquet room are to be shot on sight. Beta, Gamma, and Delta Squads, sweep the remaining decks and lock any stray individuals in the nearest quarters, and don’t let them out until the ship is secured. Anyone unwilling to follow your orders is also to be terminated on sight. Am I understood?”  
  
“Yes, sir,” came a unanimous roar from the group.  
  
“Excellent. Group Epsilon, you’re my immediate flanking guard. You are to remain within visual range of me at all times but are otherwise free to fan out and search the area. If I go down, it’ll be your heads on the line. Once we’re on board the ship, we will rendezvous with Kase and head for the bridge. If Elias’s reports are to be taken at face value, I would be surprised if Murali didn’t have something up his sleeve for us when we got there. Proceed with caution and remain on high alert, no matter what. Am I understood?”  
  
“Yes, sir,” called out a group of foot soldiers immediately in front of her.  
  
O’Malley turned her attention back to the group at large. “Board the shuttle and get ready to depart. We’ll be in range of _Babel_ within five minutes of departure. Epsilon, on me.”  
  
The redheaded woman turned on her heel and marched into the shuttle, followed quickly by her personal guard. Behind them, the squads fell into their groups and boarded the assault craft in a prompt and orderly manner. The sound of booted footfalls echoed through the shuttlebay as nearly one hundred troops boarded the massive assault craft.  
  
In the cockpit, O’Malley assumed her position in the pilot’s seat and began making her pre-flight checks. Her co-pilot, who had boarded with the rest of Epsilon, mirrored her motions.  
  
“All systems are nominal and we are ready for departure on your command, sir,” the young man said with crisp confidence.  
  
“Let’s move.”


	4. Chapter 4

Jack Johnson crawled through the maintenance hatch and into the deflector control room. As anticipated, there was no one present to cause him trouble. He’d carefully rearranged the engineering shift schedules to keep this section clear as he readied the explosive to bring _Babel_ to its knees. Soon, this agonizing six-month assignment would come to an end. He’d tolerated weeks and weeks of _collaborating_ with the disgusting animals roaming free in Starfleet attire. Now, the charade would come to an end and he’d finally get the chance to put the animals in their place.  
  
He finished the installation with ease and replaced the panel cover. He disliked having to resort to this crude backup plan, but the damned Tellarite had caught onto him and removed the energy dampers he’d littered throughout the EPS grid. Even now, Jack suspected the Chief would be tracking him down, searching for answers. He was persistent and capable, for an alien, and it would be his downfall. Now all Jack had to do was wait. He retreated to a dark corner of the room, hefted the spanner in his hand, and readied himself for what was to come.  
  
Sure enough, it was only minutes before Naazt emerged from the same hatch Jack had used, searching the room with his tricorder. Jack pressed himself against the wall, feeling his heartbeat quicken. The Tellarite focused on the deflector controls, though, and Jack smiled. He had waited too long for this, and he was going to enjoy it. With great care, he stepped forward, inching closer to the distracted engineer as he worked out the intricacies of Jack’s wiring. He raised the spanner overhead just as Naazt reached for his combadge.  
  
“Naazt to-”  
  
Jack slammed the spanner into the base of his skull and the Tellarite crumpled. Blood spattered against the walls and floor. Jack let the rush of adrenaline surge through his body, and he reveled in it. It had been too long. He hit the unconscious Tellarite again and again, and satisfied with his work, he hauled the body into the Jefferies tube. Now, he was ready. The weapons discharge alarms were disabled, the trap was laid, and the signal to O’Malley -- his O’Malley, not the sniveling scientist he’d spent the last six months with -- was sent. Wiping the fresh blood from his face, he broke into an uncontrollable smile.  
  
“I think it’s time for a little party.”


	5. Chapter 5

The shuttle’s engines whirred to life and the craft pulled out of the bay and into space. Once clear of the reclaimed Federation _Dauntless_ , O’Malley engaged the cloaking device, and the ship shimmered into nothingness. The Terran Empire and the Federation alike had no cloaking technology of their own. As a result, her engineering team had been forced to spend weeks trying to integrate the liberated piece of Romulan technology into the _Vesper_ ’s systems. As much as she detested the Romulans and other subhuman species, O’Malley had to begrudgingly admit that their technology did occasionally have its uses.  
  
As she’d predicted, the _Vesper_ came into visual range of _Babel_ not long after they’d left the _Dauntless_. O’Malley transmitted a ping across a secure channel to a personal device she’d given Kase before they parted ways over half a year prior. Moments later, shield codes flashed up on the shuttle’s display. The Commander brought the cloaked shuttle in and slipped them seamlessly through the Nebula-class starship’s shields.  
  
O’Malley pressed a button on the control panel and her voice echoed over the shuttle’s speaker system. “Alpha Squad, get into position and prepare to beam out on my mark. Beta, Gamma, and Delta, you’re next. Be swift, be thorough, and be efficient. Alpha Squad, you’re out in three… two… one.” She pressed another series of controls on the display in front of her and beamed the first of the four primary infiltration squads onto the science vessel beside them. Next, she counted out Beta Squad, then Gamma, then finally Delta. Once the craft’s human cargo had been relayed to its destination, O’Malley stood up.  
  
“Branson, Gorse, MacNeil, you take it from here. Beam us onto Deck Eleven and prepare to return to the _Dauntless_ on my orders. We shouldn’t be long.”  
  
The young man in the copilot’s seat took over control of the helm and nodded, awaiting commands.  
  
“Beam us out.”  
  
Particles of light consumed O’Malley and her team. Within the blink of an eye, they’d been transferred from the dimly-lit interior of the Vesper to the hallway of Deck Eleven. Somewhere not far from where they’d materialized, O’Malley could hear a familiar voice arguing with another woman. She rolled her eyes. _I’d heard that my twin was a pushover, but my god, she even_ sounds _like one._  
  
“Eichel and Chan, sweep port. Patel and Borisov, sweep starboard.” The shouting down the hall ceased abruptly as they moved swiftly toward it. Someone’s substantially-quieter voice was barely audible above the hum of the ship’s engines, but the sound of twin phaser discharges that followed was unmistakable. With her guard out of sight and covering her flanks, O’Malley rounded a corner and saw Kase standing at the entrance to another branch of the corridors, phaser in hand.  
  
“Kase,” she barked, just loud enough to get the young woman’s attention. “Is there any particular reason you’re taking time for target practice all the way down here?”  
  
“Just tying up some loose ends,” the young woman said, gesturing down the side corridor with her weapon. “Everything should be ready for you now, sir.”  
  
O’Malley rounded the corner and looked down at the two crumpled bodies on the floor: The subject of Admiral Patterson’s personal vendetta, Lieutenant Jessica Barnes, and the Commander’s pitiful Federation twin, barely clinging to consciousness. This universe’s Barnes looked identical to the one currently on the bridge of her ship, though, if the bickering she’d heard was any indication of the dynamic of _Babel_ ’s crew, this black-haired menace hadn’t been properly put in her place.  
  
 _Pity. She’s so obedient once her spirit has been squashed and that fiery temper put out. Still, for a ship that’s destined to fail, what better way to assure that nothing gets done than by putting a complete milquetoast as the second in command with a raging maniac biting at her ankles. It’s comical, really. I almost feel bad to see them like this. Almost._  
  
“What a waste,” she spat disdainfully as the eyes of the redhead on the floor fluttered shut. “Eichel, Borisov, take these two back to the _Dauntless_ and await my orders. We have our work cut out for us here.”  
  
A broad-chested blond man and a flat-faced man with a bald head stepped into view from opposite sides of the main hallway and nodded. They moved in and seized the two unconscious women before calling back to the shuttle for a beam out. O’Malley watched the four bodies dematerialize before summoning her two remaining guards and turning her attention back to Kase with a malicious grin. “I believe we are needed on the bridge.”


	6. Chapter 6

In a matter of minutes, the ship that had been his to command had been overtaken. Captain Raj Murali had known that Admiral Eli Patterson, his one time friend and mentor, had betrayed him and his ship to some unknown scheme. He’d spent six months preparing, planning, and accounting for every possibility he could imagine, and now the time had come to play the hand he’d been dealt.  
  
Commander O’Malley had stormed the bridge with armed soldiers behind her, brought _Babel_ out of warp, and cut her shields. The ship was floating helpless, waiting for whatever lay ahead. A Starfleet vessel, the one he’d been sent to find, faced them from a few thousand kilometers away.  
  
“I see you’ve brought the _Dauntless_ ,” he said. “What’s this about? Hiding a Federation ship beyond the frontier in secret? A military tool for Eli to brandish when he needs it most? Or does he plan to sell it to the highest bidder?”  
  
The woman laughed, and another ship appeared alongside the Dauntless. An identical ship.  
  
“Oh Captain, Elias was right about you. You think too small. This isn’t about stealing a ship. It’s about rebuilding an Empire.”  
  
Raj looked out at the pair of ships looming in the distance. Slowly, they crept closer, and with the viewscreen’s magnification, he could just make out the registry painted on the lead ship. It was the prefix, not the name, that caught his attention.  
  
 _ISS Dauntless_  
  
Now the pieces began to fall into place. Eli would have known about the existence of the so-called ‘mirror’ universe, and the things only it could grant him. It also explained the sharp change in behavior of his first officer and the nature of the _Dauntless_ ’ disappearance and subsequent reappearance.  
  
“Tell me,” he said, turning back to face the redhead who wore his First Officer’s face. “What have you done with Shannon O’Malley?”  
  
The woman put on a mask of confusion. “Whatever do you mean, Captain? I am Shannon O’Malley.”  
  
“Now who’s the one playing games? I know enough about your universe to know who you are. Tell me, is my O’Malley alive?”  
  
The woman’s face broke out in a grin. “Oh yes, Captain. She’s very much alive. By now, she’ll be telling my crew everything she knows.” She paced the length of the bridge, running her hand across the back of the captain’s chair. She sat down and leaned back, crossing a leg over her knee and resting a foot on the armrest display. She looked back at him languidly, amused and overconfident. “Now, I’m afraid I’m going to have to relieve you of command. I’m sure you understand.”  
  
She nodded at the two armed men flanking them, and they raised their rifles. Raj could spare no more time. He thumbed the small device in his hand and a sea of blue particles engulfed him, just as their phasers fired. The bridge vanished around him and was replaced by a small storage room, filled only with the supplies he’d left and the blinking transponder he’d linked to the recall device. With no time to lose before they tracked the signal, he slung the satchel over his shoulder and picked up his phaser rifle. Then he ripped off his combadge and tossed it to the floor.  
  
“Over my dead body, Commander.”


	7. Chapter 7

Renetta sat at the back of the banquet hall with Koltak, watching the party guests mingle and tangle within the crowd. Thriss had excused herself a short while ago to introduce herself to a lonely-looking individual standing off to the side of the banquet room. Koltak, who was often reticent when observing humans, didn’t seem to mind Renetta’s quiet introspection as the two of them relaxed in their chairs, full of good food and drink. Occasionally, she found herself looking for David in the crowded space, but as soon as she caught herself, she found something else to fixate on.  
Thriss returned with a familiar ginger-haired individual in tow, looking slightly inebriated with ears and the tip of his nose almost as vibrant as his hair.  
  
“Milo!” Renetta chirped, grateful for a distraction. “I was wondering if I’d see you here tonight. You look nice in something other than blue for a change.” She smiled genuinely as she admired the dark sage green vest he was wearing.  
  
The young science officer reached up and nervously tugged at his perpetually-unruly copper hair with a smile. “Thanks. I, uh, don’t get to dress up often.”  
  
“Yeah, me neither.” As soon as the words had left her mouth, the weight of them hit her in the gut like a sucker punch. _Not anymore, anyway_. “Come over and sit with us. We were just watching the party and picking at some desserts.”  
  
He smiled even wider and walked with wobbly footing up the couple of shallow steps at the back of the hall to the raised seating area where their table was. Thriss followed close behind, one hand discreetly extended to catch him if he were to topple backward. Renetta settled back in her seat as Thriss pulled up a fourth chair before reclaiming her own.  
  
“I’ve really been enjoying these little cakes,” Renetta said, picking up a small dessert and handing it to Milo. “Whatever is on top of them tastes like a cross between a plum and a cherry covered in caramel. I can’t stop eating them.”  
  
He assessed the sweet for a moment before taking a small bite and savoring the taste. “I’ve been enjoying the Aldebaran whiskey,” he said with a lazy grin. “Maybe a little too much.”  
  
“Oh, you poor kid,” Thriss said with a snort. “You’re going to regret that in a few hours.”  
  
Renetta and Koltak both looked at her. Milo continued enjoying his cake.  
  
“What’s wrong with the whiskey?” Koltak asked.  
  
“Nothing is wrong with it,” Thriss replied, watching the redheaded science officer analyze the dessert in his hands rather than looking at Koltak. “The problem is that it’s not synthehol. That’s the real thing, and if he’s this far gone on it, he’s in for a rough night and an even rougher morning.”  
  
“Does he know that?” the Gliesian asked, now also distracted by the young man.  
  
“He will soon enough.”  
  
A figure approaching the podium near the front of the room caught Renetta’s attention. In the dim lighting, it was hard to see the face to be sure, but the posture seemed wrong. Captain Murali took long, slow strides and held his hands behind his back. Whoever was approaching the podium now took quick strides with their hands at their sides. She squinted at the shadows and a series of lights faded in to illuminate the front of the room. _That’s not the Captain…_ Renetta reached over and tapped Thriss on the shoulder, not taking her eyes off of the man at the podium.  
  
“Thriss, don’t you work with that guy?”  
  
The Andorian engineer pulled herself out of the ongoing conversation and followed Renetta’s gaze to the man in the spotlight.  
  
“Yeah,” she said slowly, uncertainly. “That’s Lieutenant Johnson. He’s Naazt’s right-hand man. What’s he doing up there?”  
  
The Lieutenant strode to the podium and raised a glass in the air, tapping it lightly with a spoon to gather the attention of the room. He waited a moment, smiling at the confused faces in front of him as if he were basking in the moment. She couldn’t place it, but Renetta knew something wasn’t right.  
  
“If I may have your attention, please,” Johnson began. Even from the far end of the room, his posture looked different. He was standing taller, bolder, like a man who knew he had complete control of the room.  
  
“For the last six months, this crew has served alongside each other, sent out in the desolate, uncivilized reaches of space. We were sent to explore, to make _peaceful_ contact with inferior savages instead of taking what was rightfully ours. Today, that pathetic mission ends. Today, those of us who are worthy will begin to restore what was taken from us.”  
  
The crowd began to murmur to each other in confusion. Thriss leaned in to whisper to Renetta. “Is he drunk?”  
  
She whispered back, “for his sake, I hope so.”  
  
Johnson continued. “By now, you may have noticed the armed men and women surrounding the ballroom.” Renetta turned and heard most of the attendees do the same. Standing at each of the doorways in a perimeter around the ballroom were dozens of people, all human, carrying phaser rifles. Their uniforms were black and red, almost Starfleet uniforms but with less color, and an insignia she didn’t recognize: a planet on top of a sword.  
  
“These guards will be your hosts tonight, while we assume control of this vessel. Follow their commands, and you will be well-treated.”  
  
“Is this some kind of joke?” Renetta asked, turning to their little group, speaking just loud enough that only they could hear her. “This has to be a joke, right?” She turned and watched as several guards on either side of the room moved inward and began weaving through the crowd. Lowering her voice again, she glanced from Thriss to Koltak to Milo, who seemed completely at a loss. “This has to be a joke, right?”  
  
A pair of burly men marched toward their table and began giving orders, pointing with the ends of their rifles. “Everybody up,” the first barked. “Humans on this side of the room, non-humans on that side!”  
  
“Why?” Renetta asked, taking a step closer to her two friends as she grabbed onto Milo’s arm. “We came here together, and we’d like to stay together.”  
  
The second man, a hair shorter than the first, gave her a wicked grin. “Trust me, girl, you’re not going to want to be on their side when this is done.” He lifted his rifle and aimed it straight at Koltak’s large frame. “Now move.”  
  
“No!” The tiny, determined woman stepped between the man’s rifle and Koltak’s chest. Her hands were shaking and her stomach was tumbling over itself with fear, but she folded her arms defiantly and mustered every ounce of loaned confidence left from the synthehol. “I _said_ we’re staying together.”  
  
The butt of the rifle cracked against her lip, and she tasted blood even before she realized she was sprawled on the floor. “Fine then,” the man said. “Stand with the aliens, and you’ll get treated like one.”  
  
Her mind raced as the sharp sensation of pain made its way to her brain. The new, programmed response of pleasure tried to kick in, followed by a hot wave of nausea rising from her stomach. _Pain, bad. Pain bad_ , she reminded herself. It felt so stupid, but it had become a matter of habit, whether it was in response to stubbing her toe or taking a hit to the face. In the split second that she had been drawn in by her own backward psychology, she’d become oblivious to her surroundings. The metallic taste in her mouth and the sudden pressure at her back of Koltak being shoved along brought her staggering back into the present.  
  
As the man in the strange uniform shoved them along, Renetta glanced back over her shoulder to see Milo being led aggressively along by a different stranger over to a crowd of human partygoers. Ahead of them, the nonhuman attendees were being corralled into a corner of the ballroom where dark-uniformed guards held them there at phaser-point. Feeling overwhelmed, Renetta looked to her friends.  
  
Koltak’s face was stoic and unrevealing. The green sash across their silvery purple suit had fallen askew in the midst of the manhandling but fixing it seemed to be far from the top of the Gliesian’s list of priorities. Their cranial frills were held close to their head, and though they looked straight ahead, their gaze was kilometers away. Thriss, on the other hand, looked completely unruffled as she strode forth with the confidence of someone who was leading the group rather than being forced along against her will. Her brown eyes were intently focused, scanning the room. Renetta reached for the Andorian woman’s arm, and the woman’s brown eyes met hers.  
  
“What are we going to do?” Renetta asked quietly as Thriss bent over, pretending to adjust the hem of her fitted, deep magenta dress as they walked.  
  
“Working on it. Why didn’t you go with Milo?”  
  
“And leave you two?”  
  
“We don’t know who these people are, Renetta. They could kill you.”  
  
The dark-haired woman frowned at her friend. “They could kill any of us. That’s no reason to abandon a friend.”


	8. Chapter 8

Lieutenant Jessica Barnes, _Babel_ ’s Chief of Security, took in her surroundings as her vision returned in a blur. The room, wherever it was, was cold. The floor underneath her was hard, exposed metal, not carpeted like most of the ship. She tried to make out what was in front of her, but the attempt to focus just added to her already pounding headache. Desperately, she tried to recall what had happened before she lost consciousness.  
  
 _I was near the banquet hall, confronting Shannon. We argued, but I knew she was responsible for the sabotage. I had her cornered... but I was wrong._  
  
The memory came flooding back to her. Ensign Kase, the bridge officer manning Operations on the second shift, had snuck up on them and drawn a phaser. Jessica winced at the memory, and again as she prodded her ribcage where the shot had landed. Even on stun, phaser burns hurt, and this one would be tender for at least a day. Kase had shot her, then cleared the way for someone...  
  
 _Not just someone. Commander O’Malley. A different one, though. The same body, the same face, but not the woman I’d been shouting at. The real Shannon got shot, too._  
  
She hauled herself to her feet despite the stabbing pain in her side and steadied herself against the wall. She blinked furiously to clear her vision, and it dawned on her that she was, not for the first time, locked in a cell. Luckily, she already knew her cellmate. Commander O’Malley was lying on the flat slab that served as the cell’s only bed and seating area. Jessica crouched down by her side and gently shook the redhead’s shoulder.  
  
“Commander, wake up.”  
  
The woman groaned but didn’t move. Jessica shook her a little harder.  
  
“Shannon, wake up. We need to get out of here.”  
  
The Commander didn’t move. Instead, an oddly familiar voice spoke up from the other side of the cell’s forcefield.  
  
“I’m afraid Commander O’Malley won’t be awake for quite a while. In the meantime, I think it’s time we get to know each other, don’t you?”  
  
She knew who she was going to see before she turned around, but Jessica was still speechless when she turned to see a perfect copy of herself standing on the outside of the cell. She had the same sharp, angled features, the same jet black ponytail hanging down to just below her shoulders, and the same look of grim determination in her cold blue eyes. If it weren’t for the [uniform](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/5d6e152c-93ab-4d45-bb6b-a65b186864fd/dayp37i-385ba5d0-e2d4-493b-ba7f-2365e67de455.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3sicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvNWQ2ZTE1MmMtOTNhYi00ZDQ1LWJiNmItYTY1YjE4Njg2NGZkXC9kYXlwMzdpLTM4NWJhNWQwLWUyZDQtNDkzYi1iYTdmLTIzNjVlNjdkZTQ1NS5qcGcifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6ZmlsZS5kb3dubG9hZCJdfQ.GEFOyl-QstAENvTKYjpUN_LGyPmFoYJ9_yXHaJDafVI), sporting mismatched black shoulders with red trim and a strange logo of a sword cutting down through what appeared to be the planet Earth, Jessica would have thought she was looking in a mirror.  
  
“Who the hell _are_ you?”  
  
The other woman smiled. “I’m you, Jessica. A better version of you. And you have something I need. Now, you can come with me willingly, or you can make this difficult. It’s your call.”  
  
“If you think I’m going anywhere with you,” Jessica started, before a searing pain shot through her body like a lightning strike. She fell to her knees, and when she looked up her counterpart was holding a small remote.  
  
“We call it the agonizer,” the woman said. “A remarkably useful device. It promotes obedience quite effectively. It’s linked to your new badge, and I would suggest you don’t attempt to remove it.”  
  
Jessica looked down at her chest to find her Starfleet combadge missing, replaced with the eerie new insignia sported by her counterpart. Intent on defying her captor, she grabbed the badge and wrenched it from her clothing. If the pain from the device’s initial use had been a trickle, this time it was a flood of burning agony. She screamed as it wracked her body, collapsing to the floor and completely unable to control herself. Tears welled in her eyes, her vision blurred, and she begged for it to stop. Without question, it was the single worst pain she’d ever experienced. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the pain stopped. She gasped for air, but even her lungs failed to obey her, leaving her limp on the ground, helpless and entirely humiliated.  
  
“I warned you,” the other Jessica said with a shake of her head. “I told you it was linked to your badge. The agonizer itself was implanted under your skin as soon as you were brought aboard. Trying to remove the device will bring you only debilitating pain. If you would like to avoid another lesson, I suggest you follow my instructions promptly. Now, let’s go somewhere more private. I wouldn’t want your disobedience to wake your friend.”


	9. Chapter 9

_Something isn’t right_ , Jeremy thought to himself as he walked back down the corridor from the banquet hall toward the turbolift. He hadn’t seen or heard anyone since he’d left his quarters, the doors to the banquet room were sealed shut, and the computer was giving canned answers and incorrect locations. _I can’t trust the computer to tell me where anyone is, I can’t call Jess, and I have no idea how to get into the room where everyone else is supposed to be. For all I know, I could be the only one left on_ Babel. That final thought made his stomach clench around the two burning shots of synthetic scotch sloshing around in his otherwise empty stomach, and for a moment, he felt a sharp pang of nausea. _No, there’s no way. Think logically. Statistically, that’s pretty much impossible. We’d have picked up some kind of signature if there was another ship in the area…_  
  
Jeremy stopped. Down the hall, he could hear footsteps and the quiet chatter of two individuals having a somewhat private conversation. By itself, it wasn’t an unusual scenario, but with everything else that had gone wrong so far that evening, he’d barely had a moment to think about responding before his legs had carried him around a corner and pressed him against a wall.  
  
The conversation grew nearer, and he began to pick out words and phrases. A “commander” here, an “admiral” there, and a string of words that sounded like something to do with “capture” and “extraction.” Something was now undeniably very wrong, and Jeremy’s eyes began scanning for a better place to hide. He’d stepped into a smaller corridor off of the main hallway. It was well lit, and despite standing with his back toward the approaching individuals, if they were paying any attention to their surroundings, he’d stick out clear as day in his black suit against the cream-colored walls of the ship.  
  
Beside him on the wall, smoothly blending in with the simplified utilitarian design classic for Starfleet ships, was a small door. _That’ll work_ , he thought, turning and popping up the inset latch to open the entrance to the Jefferies tube. As a geologist, Jeremy had crawled through plenty of tight spaces, though most of them were terrestrial. It had been many years since he’d last entered a starship maintenance shaft, and as soon as the door was open far enough to peer inside, he suddenly remembered all the reasons why he’d disliked the experience last time.  
  
 _Whoever designed these clearly didn’t account for comfort_ , he thought, hauling himself into the wall head-first. Turning around was somewhat of an ordeal. Between broad shoulders and long legs, there wasn’t much room for acrobatics, despite the tunnel’s room-for-two design. After what he hoped hadn’t been too much noise, Jeremy had his head to the entrance once again, and he could hear the voices drawing nearer. Panicked, he reached for the hatch and swung it closed, stopping himself just centimeters from slamming it shut.  
  
“Last I’d heard, Epsilon had their targets and had split back to the _Dauntless_.”  
  
Jeremy listened to the unfamiliar voices out in the main corridor. Less than a second later, they stepped into view. Clad in black, Jeremy initially assumed they were wearing formal clothes for the gala, but the rifles in hand, belt-knives, and the strange cording and matching designs made him realize that they were some kind of uniform. _What the hell is going on?_  
  
“Already?” the other voice responded, faltering for a moment, turning slightly in the process. Jeremy caught a glimpse of the front of the uniform: A completely unfamiliar black design with diagonal accents and an insignia of a planet impaled on a sword. The stranger started walking forward again. “From everything I’d heard, I’d assumed that the second and third in command of this ship would have put up more of a fight.”  
  
“It’s the Captain that the Commander is more concerned about, but it is a little disappointing. Apparently, the other two were too…”  
  
The strangers in black disappeared around the corner and down the hall, their voices rapidly fading from earshot. Jeremy quietly sealed the hatch to the Jefferies tube and leaned back against the wall. _No… No no no, I must’ve heard that wrong. There’s no way…_ He’d heard the computer tell him loud and clear that neither Shannon nor Jessica were on the ship, and at the time, it just didn’t make sense. Now, the pieces were beginning to come together. _The way they discussed things, it sounded like there was another ship somewhere nearby, but if that were the case, why hadn’t we gone to yellow or red alert?_ He considered their last audible statement and tried to make sense of it. _Why would Shannon be worried about the Captain?_ Just as things seemed to be starting to make sense, Jeremy found himself as lost as he’d been when he’d left his quarters.  
  
 _If Shannon is worried about the Captain, I probably ought to be, too_ , he thought, squeezing and rolling himself onto his hands and knees to crawl through the maintenance shaft. _And if Shannon and Jess are no longer on Babel and have been taken to this Dauntless, someone ought to figure out where Captain Murali is and make sure he’s not in any danger._  
  
Jeremy made it a few crawling steps before he stopped and ripped off the bowtie. _This is only going to get in the way_ , he thought, removing his jacket next and tossing it behind him in the tube. He undid the stifling top button of his dress shirt and fastened his combadge in its usual spot. _I was looking for an excuse to show a little initiative, but this is hardly what I had in mind_. He rolled up his sleeves and set off down the length of the Jefferies tube again, setting course for the nearest vertical intersection. _It’s been too long since I took charge and let my instincts lead the way. Now seems like as good a time as any to give it another go._  
  
Up ahead, he could see another small door that he knew led to the vertical part of the maintenance shaft. He parted the split doorway and crawled into the tall intersection, grateful for a chance to stand up and stretch his legs. Below him, another split door led to the lower decks, and above him, a similar one led upwards. He reached for the ladder and began to climb. Prying open the hatch overhead, he hauled himself through and headed for the one above that, sights set on the bridge.  
  
 _Whatever happens now_ , he thought, picking up the pace, _there’s no going back._


	10. Chapter 10

David stared down the length of the phaser rifle aimed at his head. The man holding the weapon, a tall, dark-haired human in a black uniform, seemed to have run out of patience.  
  
“I said get moving!” the man barked, inclining his head slightly in the direction of the other human captives.  
  
“I can’t walk without help,” David sighed, only slightly stretching the truth.. “A phaser isn’t going to change that.”  
  
Deciding that his current strategy wasn’t going anywhere, the man grabbed the collar of David’s shirt and hauled him out of his chair. Straining with the effort, David managed to keep his legs moving fast enough to keep up with his captor, and moments later he was standing in a small crowd of _Babel_ ’s human crew. At the front of the crowd, a young woman, still in her red duty uniform, was confronting the armed men surrounding them.  
  
“What’s going on here?”  
  
At the center of the line of armed men was none other than _Babel_ ’s own Lieutenant Jack Johnson, who’d been speaking with David just minutes ago in what felt like another lifetime.  
  
“This ship,” Johnson spat, “is now under the control of the Terran Empire. Cooperate, and there may be a place for you in our new order. Resist, and you will be put down.”  
  
“This is ridiculous!” the woman replied. Hobbling closer, David recognized her as the ship's other primary helmsman, Ensign Jemison. She’s been working extra shifts since his capture and mutilation while the crew worked to train more pilots to take over his role on alpha shift.  
  
Johnson, meanwhile, simply leveled his phaser at her, as devoid of emotion as a Vulcan. “Ensign, speak out of line again and I won’t hesitate to kill you. I have little need for extra pilots.”  
  
Her face twisted with anger, but David cut her off before she could make a fatal mistake. “Don’t do it, Mae. You aren’t going to help anyone by pushing them.”  
  
She turned to face him and bit back a retort, her face softening when she recognized him. Johnson, however, felt no need to remain silent.  
  
“Mister Brahms, how good to see you join us.” His mouth turned up in an eerie grin, he looked like an entirely different man than the one David had seen for the past six months, as if some monster dwelling deep within him had finally been unleashed. The soldiers under his command were ruthless and methodical, but David recognized the manic joy on the engineer’s face as something far more insidious. It was the same look he’d seen a month earlier on the face of the man who tore his body and his life apart.  
  
“I’m only here because you put me here,” David answered carefully. He wanted to fight back, but with a squad of armed men trained on him, there would have been nothing he could do even before his injuries. Now, if they were going to put a stop to this, he was going to have to get creative.  
  
“David,” the man replied, shaking his head. “I have no fight with you. We should be on the same side, all of us. The _human_ side. Was it a human that took your sight from you? Your ability to fly? No, it was one of _them_.” He gestured behind him, to the cluster of non-human crew being corralled by soldiers on the opposite side of the banquet hall.  
  
“Those people are our _friends_!” Jemison shouted, unable to restrain herself.  
  
“Friends?” Johnson rounded on her. “They’re aliens, they’ll _never_ be your friends! They’re simply waiting, biding their time, until a moment of weakness. Then, they’ll strike down everything you’ve ever worked for, and leave humanity in the dust. They hate us, and they always will, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll be able to do what needs to be done.”  
  
He began to pace back and forth in front of his prisoners, and David took a moment to look past him to where the rest of the crew was being held. At this distance, he couldn’t make out any faces, but he could at least make out Koltak’s large frame, standing beside an Andorian who had to be Thriss. Where the human prisoners had been herded at gunpoint, these captives were receiving no such gentle treatment. With horror, David watched as the butts of rifles slammed down into cowering figures, and others were kicked and shoved without restraint.  
  
“My people come from a universe not unlike this one,” Johnson resumed, his eyes lingering uncomfortably on several of the captives as he passed by. “In this reality, you’ve lowered yourselves to the level of these savages, built a Federation with them. In ours, we ruled the quadrant as its rightful heirs. Our Empire reigned supreme for generations, until we were betrayed from within, by a filthy half-breed we were foolish enough to allow to become Emperor. Instead of crushing alien resistance, he gave them rights and freedoms and started circulating talk of treating them as equals. As our Empire decayed, our grip on the vermin loosened, and they destroyed us. Now, they dare to claim sovereignty over us, and our people are brutally enslaved where we should be their betters. Let that be a lesson to you all in what happens when you trust anyone but your own kind.”  
  
David was amazed and horrified in equal measure. Everyone in Starfleet had heard rumors of the so-called “mirror” reality encountered by Captain Kirk a century ago, but few really believed it existed. Not only was it real, but now people from the other side had come to this reality, and their intentions were clearly not peaceful. He heard a scream from the opposite side of the banquet hall, and he knew time was not on his side.  
  
“What are you going to do?” he asked. Johnson stopped in front of him and gave another smile.  
  
“What do you think we’re going to do? We’re going to take this ship, return to our universe, and rebuild our Empire, killing any alien who gets in our way.”


	11. Chapter 11

One thing that caverns and rock crevasses had over Jefferies tubes was airflow. Jeremy stopped for what must have been the fifth or sixth time since he entered the maintenance shafts and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was, by no means, out of shape, but between the urgency of the situation and the stagnant air in the narrow passages, it was impossible to ignore how stuffy the environment was.  
  
“Maybe this is why Naazt makes such a good engineer,” Jeremy grumbled to himself, regaining his bearings and continuing his slow crawl toward the bridge. “Tellarites have a distinct advantage when it comes to getting into tight places.”  
  
He’d been crawling for at least five or ten minutes, by his internal chronometer, and as far as he could tell, he was headed in the direction of the bridge, up and port from where he’d started. Despite spending about half of his tunnel escapade moving vertically, his knees ached, and his neck was going to be feeling the effects of this workout for at least a day. As he approached a junction in the path, a muscle in his shoulder seized up and sent him staggering forward with a loud series of thumps. Jeremy swore as he lay on his side, massaging out the muscle knot.  
  
The muffled sound of movement nearby made him freeze, discomfort be damned. He looked up to see the muzzle of a phaser rifle peeking around the corner of the junction, roughly a meter from his head. _Son of a--_  
  
The rest of the weapon slid into view, followed by a bushy white eyebrow against a dark forehead. He and the newcomer locked eyes for a brief moment before Captain Murali crept out from the intersecting tunnel and lowered the weapon.  
  
“Caldwell,” he said, sounding irritated and relieved. “What the hell are you doing here?”  
  
“I suppose I could ask you the same thing, sir,” Jeremy said, sitting up but unable to keep his attention entirely away from the rifle.  
  
“We can make time for small talk later. For now, come with me. I could use some backup.” The Captain swung a satchel off of his shoulder, reaching in and pulling out a standard-issue Type-2 phaser and holster. “Take this, put it on, and come with me.”  
  
Jeremy took the sidearm and raised himself to his knees, bending at an awkward angle to fit his tall frame into the claustrophobic maintenance tube. As he clipped the phaser to his belt, the captain’s hand reached out and snatched the combadge off of the geologist’s dress shirt.  
  
“But--”  
  
Before Jeremy could protest, the captain had thrown the badge to the floor of the Jefferies tube and smashed it with the butt of his rifle.  
  
“I thought we’re not supposed to take those off.”  
  
“We’re not supposed to interact with other universes, either, and yet this ship is crawling with Terran infiltration forces.” Suddenly, the old man Jeremy had always seen as Captain Murali looked many years younger and had an almost unrecognizable energy about him. “Unless you want to be hunted down and detained by O’Malley’s men, destroying that combadge will be the second smart thing you’ve done this evening.”  
  
Jeremy shook his head. “I don’t understand. I thought I’d heard someone say the Commander had been taken to the _Dauntless_ or something along those lines.”  
  
“She has, and her counterpart from another universe is trying to take over this ship. As far as I know, my Number One and Chief of Security have been taken hostage.”  
  
It all seemed preposterous. He wanted to ask so many questions, but the look on the captain’s face told him that he’d asked enough of them already. “What do we do? Clearly, we have to get them back somehow, but as far as I can tell, everyone at the winter gala is locked in the banquet hall, and there are armed patrols all over that deck. Otherwise, it’s deserted.”  
  
“The first thing we need to do, Lieutenant, is retake control of the ship.”  
  
“We’re going to the bridge?” Jeremy asked.  
  
Captain Murali shook his head. “If you ever want to make Captain someday, Caldwell, take this lesson to heart: The only place that’s ever really in control of a ship is Main Engineering. Before we can get there, though, we need our Chief Engineer, and the only Tellarite lifesigns my tricorder is picking up are coming from Deck Twenty-Three.”  
  
The thought of crawling back down through all those levels made Jeremy’s knees ache preemptively. Before he could spend too much energy lamenting the next leg of his journey through the ship’s cramped service ducts, echoing voices and loud, clumsy thumping and clanking brought his attention uncomfortably back to the present. Moving on instinct as he had in the halls of Deck Eleven, Jeremy rolled behind the corner opposite and grabbed the phaser off his belt, landing in a crouch, weapon drawn.  
  
He looked over to the captain, whose eyes focused on the middle distance, squinted and focused. The older man held up three fingers and gestured down the Jefferies tube in the direction Jeremy had initially been headed. A few seconds later, three humans in black uniforms emerged from the next junction and paused in the intersection. One of them, a male with cropped brown hair, pointed silently down two of the corridors, signaling the others to split off.  
  
Jeremy glanced at the captain and caught the tail end of an eye-roll from the older man. Captain Murali didn’t wait to give orders before shouldering his rifle and taking a shot at the subordinate crawling toward them. The shot hit the young man in the shoulder, sending him crumpling to the floor. The second subordinate, a young woman who had set off in the opposite direction, turned around and drew her weapon. She squeezed the trigger, but not before Jeremy could fire off two rounds in her direction. Both shots missed, leaving black phaser burns on the walls of the tunnel. The captain muttered something under his breath before lining up a pair of shots of his own. The first one landed square in the chest of the woman Jeremy had aimed for, and the second shot finished the job on the young man near them.  
  
“Where’d the third guy go?” Jeremy asked, turning his back to the wall and looking down at the phaser in his hand. He hadn’t thought to check when the captain had handed it to him, but the weapon was set to kill. The two shots of scotch in his stomach did another somersault. “Sir, we are shooting to stun… right?”  
  
“Caldwell, do you think for a moment that these people would spare your life if you pointed a weapon at them?” The captain’s face was hard and the lines between his brows were deep and worn from many years of wearing severe expressions. “Look at me. I know you’ve been caught off-guard by this entire situation, but I also know you aren’t as much of a pushover as you sell yourself to be. You’re smart, but you’ve coasted your way through your last three posts.”  
  
As offensive as the accusations were, what the captain was saying wasn’t a lie. He’d given up really trying years ago, both in love and in work. Somehow, the fact that someone had noticed and called him out on it after all this time made the realization all the more embarrassing.  
  
“This is a life or death situation, Caldwell. Patterson built _Babel_ to fail. Inconvenient, unmotivated, and volatile crew members were chosen for our ship, along with a few unfortunate souls that got stuck with us to fill in the blanks. Today is a turning point in your career. Either you go down as a member of the missing crew of an ill-fated ship, or you decide you’re done resting on your laurels and make something of yourself.”  
  
A beam of orange phaser fire seared through the air, burying itself in the wall beside Jeremy’s head. Down the Jefferies tube in which they had taken cover, the nose of a rifle poked out from around the corner of the next intersection. It had been a potshot, but now that the assailant’s cover had been given away, he peeked out to aim his next shot. Meanwhile, Jeremy and the captain dove into cover around the nearest corner.  
  
“What’s it going to be?” Captain Murali asked, crawling over to the downed infiltrator and rolling the body aside to remove the badge from their chest.  
  
Jeremy considered the path he’d taken that landed him here, on _Babel_. He wasn’t proud of it, and as much as he denied there being any problems with his conduct and career, he knew that the captain was right. _No better time…_ Jeremy pointed to the phaser rifle the young man in the black uniform had been carrying and gestured for the captain to hand it over. Despite being from a different universe, the build looked more or less the same as Federation standard issue. Resuming his position against the wall, Jeremy tossed the sidearm he’d been given down the corridor, toward the last member of the trio. As he’d expected, the man shot on instinct, and Jeremy could hear the phaser bolt make contact a ways down the hallway.  
  
Without wasting a second after the shot had been fired, Jeremy rounded the corner and quickly took aim. The man had his rifle pointing downward at the weapon on the floor and had stuck his head and shoulders out to get a better look. Four shots screamed out from the end of the reclaimed infiltration weapon, and one of them hit the man solidly in the neck. The brown-haired man in the black uniform was dead before his body hit the floor, the angry-looking sear mark on his neck smoking.  
  
Jeremy rolled back around the corner and slumped against the wall, clutching the rifle tightly. Captain Murali’s voice cut through the fog settling in around his thoughts.  
  
“Glad to see you’ve decided to join the fight, Caldwell.” The old man’s face was stern, but there was a brief levity in his eyes. “Go pick up your sidearm if it’s still in one piece. There’s still plenty of tunnels between here and the deflector array, and we don’t have all day.”


	12. Chapter 12

The first thing Shannon noticed was the headache. Like a hammer pounding into her skull with every movement, it was all she could do just to stand. She remembered Jessica cornering her outside the banquet hall, accusing her of betraying the crew. Then... then Kase had appeared and shot them both, clearing the way for that woman masquerading with her face. _She looked just like me_ , Shannon thought. _She had my face._ _What the hell is going on?_ Bracing herself for another wave of pain and nausea, she looked around the room. She was in a cell, with one long flat slab serving as a bed, and a forcefield separating her from whatever lay beyond. The part that bothered her was that the cell was clearly of Starfleet make, but far too outdated to be onboard _Babel_.  
  
She looked around for anything that could be of use to her, but the room was empty and sterile, aside from the bed and a small screen embedded in the wall. As she moved closer to investigate the screen, it blinked on, showing another small room. Inside, trapped behind another forcefield, was Lieutenant Barnes. She looked exhausted, and blood trailed from her lip. Across from her stood another woman, dressed in a black uniform with a large knife hanging at her hip. Shannon looked at the woman’s face and did a double-take. It was Jessica. _Now there’s another one of her, too? Where_ am _I?_ Then the new Jessica spoke.  
  


***

  
“I hope you know that I’d rather work with you than against you, Jessica. All I need are _Babel_ ’s command codes.”  
  
Jessica spat at the forcefield. “And why would I ever work with you? You attacked us, took us hostage, and threatened to torture me if I disobey you. That’s not exactly grounds for cooperation between us.”  
  
The other Jessica, the woman who’d stolen her face, picked up a PADD and began to skim through it. “On the contrary, Jessica, I’ve read your personnel file, and I think we have a lot in common. You’ve been hurt by non-humans just like we have. They took your home, they took your family... you hated them for it, and you were right to do so.”  
  
“That was a long time ago,” she answered, but her voice was weak. It had been true, of course, and it had taken a prison sentence to help break her free of it. The other woman continued.  
  
“You fought back, didn’t you? You hurt them for hurting you. How long were you part of that little gang? How many aliens did you kill? There were a lot of unsolved murders in Houston that year, and the name Terra Prime comes up a lot in their records. Was it all the doing of one of your little friends? Or did you hold the phaser one night, in some dark alley watching some filthy alien walk over the ground where your home once stood, until you couldn’t take it anymore? Until you decided to take back what was yours?”  
  
Jessica didn’t answer. She couldn’t. She lowered her eyes and looked away.  
  
“That’s what I thought. You can relax, Jessica. You’re among friends here. We’re all fighting that same fight until we can take back what’s ours.”  
  
“You’re murderers,” she spat. “And I’m nothing like you.”  
  
“You _are_ me,” the woman replied. “And I know just how much you hurt. My parents grew up on Earth, at the heart of the Empire. My father was a retired Captain in the Imperial Navy, and by the time I was born he ran a small estate in what was left of the Empire. For all his strengths, he did have one weakness. Before he took his own command, he served under Emperor Spock, who poisoned him with a weakness toward aliens. He refused to properly beat his slaves, even forgave them when they failed him. In hindsight, it shouldn’t have been a surprise when one of them put a knife in his back. I was only a child then, but I’ll never forget the hatred in that Cardassian’s eyes as the guards dragged her away for questioning. Then Spock gave them rights, and freedoms, and the fear that kept them in line withered away. Now our Empire is gone, and Terrans live as slaves instead of rulers.”  
  
“It sounds like you got what you deserved,” Jessica muttered.  
  
“How can you say that about your own people?” The other woman looked genuinely shocked. “Surely you’re at least loyal to your own race? Or have you sold out your dignity as well as your honor?”  
  
“Where I come from, no species is superior to another. I don’t know much about your universe, but our history is littered with nations that fell when the oppressed rose up against their oppressors.”  
  
“Then those nations were weak,” the other Jessica spat back. “Just as our Empire became weak. When we rebuild, we won’t make that mistake again. No one will _ever_ make me a slave again.”  
  
She looked her captor in the eyes, and she didn’t see the rage she expected. She saw fear, and for that brief moment, the woman’s eyes weren’t the cold, hardened eyes of the killer she’d become, but the eyes of the scared little girl Jessica remembered being when her mother had fallen sick. She’d lost her father, lost her home, and clung desperately to the only shred of stability she had left.  
  
“They came for me in the night,” the other woman continued. “The first thing I remember was the sound of the door as they kicked it in. They dragged me out of bed and used me as a hostage while they made their escape from the estate. They stole a ship and fled to Klingon space, where they sold me to pay their way into the Alliance. I never saw my home again, and I’ve never seen Earth with my own eyes. Now can you see why I fight them?”  
  
Jessica sighed. “Of course I do. What I don’t understand is how you can’t see why they fought you.”  
  
Again the other woman looked confused. “They’re aliens. We’re humans. What else is there? They hate us, and if we don’t kill them they’ll kill us. Only the strong survive.”  
  
“You’re right about one thing,” Jessica answered. “You and I _are_ alike. We’re stubborn, we’ve been hurt, and the first thing we want to do is find those who hurt us and hurt them back. But that doesn’t solve anything. If your Empire enslaved other species, of course they fought back! They hated you because you spent generations teaching them that you were the source of all of their problems, and now that the tables have turned, you blame them for oppressing you? You’re just continuing a cycle that will never end, even if you succeed. The Federation may not be perfect, but we strive for peace, and we’ve made that a reality for trillions of beings in our galaxy. Is equality such a hard price to pay for that goal?”  
  
Her counterpart bit back a retort and collected herself. “This discussion is irrelevant, Lieutenant. I had hoped that you could see reason and join us, but if that isn’t the case then there is nothing left to say. I’ll give you one more chance. Will you give me _Babel_ ’s command codes?”  
  
Jessica shook her head. She knew what was coming next, but giving up the ship was simply not an option. The black-clad woman sighed and picked up the agonizer’s remote. “I am sorry, you know,” she said softly. Then the pain began, and the world went white around her.


	13. Chapter 13

“We can’t just stand here and do nothing,” Renetta hissed in a whisper. She, Thriss, and Koltak stood in a close huddle toward the back of the group of aliens who had been herded to the far side of the ballroom. She was the only human who had made enough of a fuss to get herself thrown in among them as a “sympathizer,” but despite her supposed protections as a human among these violent interlopers in black uniforms, Thriss and Koltak formed a living wall between her and the rest of the ruckus.  
  
“What are we supposed to do?” Thriss asked in response. “This place is swarming with Johnson’s goons, and I don’t like the odds of roughly three to ten.”  
  
“If we could somehow get everyone to start something at once, it might be too much to handle right away,” Koltak added, checking over their shoulder before ducking down to match the average height in the crowd. “If we passed a message through the group and told everyone to act on a signal, it might be enough to--”  
  
“Hey!” boomed a voice as a pale hand reached around Koltak’s shoulder, wrenching their tall frame outward. With Koltak pried out of the way, the black-clad man’s gaze came to rest on Renetta, backed against the wall. “So, you’re the little pest who decided these scum were better than your own kind.” The man sneered and took a step toward her. “If you want to be all buddy-buddy with these aliens, maybe we ought to show you how we treat them, see if it doesn’t change your mind.”  
  
Koltak, now towering at their full height, reached out a hand and grabbed the back of the man’s collar. “She’s done nothing wrong.”  
  
The pale man’s face burned red with anger as he whirled around and leveled his phaser at the Gliesian. Without a word or a moment’s hesitation, he squeezed the trigger, sending a brilliant bolt of energy in the science officer’s direction. Koltak thrust the man away in a split-second reaction, sending the phaser bolt off at an angle. The blast connected with their left shoulder and Koltak staggered backward and hit the floor of the banquet hall with a loud bang. Several other disoriented bystanders toppled to the ground as they stumbled over one another to get out of the way.  
  
The crowd scattered and reformed, moving in a panic around the unconscious Gliesian. Someone began to cry. Others started shouting. Renetta and Thriss stood stunned as time seemed to come to a halt. Thriss snapped out of it first, and she turned on the man in the black uniform, who stood proudly over the results of his handiwork.  
  
“What is _wrong_ with you people?” she screamed, her blue fists clenching and unclenching as she stood her ground. “They didn’t even do anything to do!”  
  
The man turned to Thriss with a familiar expression of twisted ecstasy and power-drunkenness that shook Renetta from her trance. “It -- you,” he made a sweeping gesture toward the entire alien crowd, “all of you have done enough to me by simply existing. You poison my world. You are the reason my people suffer. Be grateful I even let you _look_ at me like that.”  
  
“ _We_ didn’t do anything to you! I don’t know who the hell you are, but we certainly have nothing to do with whatever happened to your people.”  
  
The man stepped forward and put himself directly in front of Thriss, chest out in a primal posture of challenge. He grinned and said in a low, intimate voice Renetta could barely make out, “perhaps not, but innocence isn’t enough to save you from what you _are_.”  
  
Thriss clenched her right fist hard and began to bring it up to swing. Renetta grasped the Andorian woman’s forearm, feeling the strength behind her would-be punch. Thriss turned toward the pressure on her arm. The look of vitriol in her eyes startled Renetta, but she didn’t let go.  
  
“Koltak needs us.”  
  
Thriss took a deep breath and closed her eyes, releasing the tension in her fingers as she followed Renetta’s lead toward their downed friend. “You’re right,” she admitted through clenched teeth as she took another long, deep breath.  
  
“That’s right, go back to the herd with the rest of your animal friends,” the man in the black uniform called from behind them before slamming the butt of his phaser rifle against Thriss’s shoulders, sending her staggering forward.  
  
Renetta tightened her grip on the Andorian woman’s arm as she could feel her muscles flex. She placed a sympathetic hand over Thriss’s white knuckles and pulled her away from the guard. “We need to focus on Koltak. There’s nothing the two of us alone can do against him. Not right now.”  
  
They cleared aside frightened bystanders and crouched down beside Koltak. Renetta lifted the Gliesian scientist's colorful head into her lap and checked for a pulse. “They’re still alive, but that blast looks like it did some serious damage.”  
  
Thriss peeled aside the singed layers of Koltak’s suit jacket to get a better look at the blast wound. “The shot missed their torso, but it hit dead center of the shoulder. Even still, I can almost guarantee those phasers are set to kill. It’s a miracle Koltak is still breathing.” Renetta noticed what almost looked like admiration hiding behind the concern on Thriss’s face. “Let’s get Koltak somewhere safe.”  
  
The two of them hauled their fallen friend’s wounded body off to a less-crowded area within their designated zone. Renetta looked around at the chaos and felt so incredibly small. People were being beaten, threatened, screamed into submission, and herded like animals by armed thugs in strange uniforms. How were they supposed to save themselves when they didn’t know who these people were or how to confront them without risking death for speaking out of turn? _What if we never make it out? I’m trapped again, and just as useless as ever._  
  
Thriss placed a hand on Renetta’s shoulder and squeezed. “Hey,” she said gently, her voice dragging Renetta out of the panic in her mind. “We _will_ make it out of here. That’s a promise.”


	14. Chapter 14

Raj dropped the rest of the way down the ladder and pressed himself against the access hatch to the main hallway. He checked his tricorder again and began to worry.  
  
“What’s wrong, sir?” Caldwell asked as he climbed down after him.  
  
“It’s Chief Naazt,” Raj replied. “His lifesigns are faint, and he hasn’t moved since I found him. We need to move quickly if we want to keep him alive. No more time for crawling around. Are you ready?”  
  
The younger man steeled himself, raised the rifle to his shoulder, and nodded. “Ready when you are, sir.”  
  
Raj hit the manual release on the hatch door and threw himself into the hallway. He spun in a half-circle, sweeping the length of the hall for hostiles, but found none. He signaled to Jeremy, but the science officer had already completed a sweep of his own and was making his way back to the Captain.  
  
“It looks empty, sir,” Jeremy said. The hesitant expression he usually wore was gone, exposing the first hints of the officer Raj knew the man could be.  
  
“It’s our lucky day, then,” he muttered, taking off at a brisk pace he knew he could maintain all the way to their destination. Twice more they came to a halt at the intersection of two hallways, and twice more they were relieved to find no resistance. Raj checked his tricorder again and confirmed his suspicions.  
  
“He’s in there.” Raj pointed the barrel of the rifle at the door marked “Deflector Array Control” on the opposite side of the hall. He picked up the pace yet again and made for the door. A flicker of a shadow out of the corner of his eye was all the warning he had. Tucking his arm in, Raj spun to his right and thrust the rifle out in front of him like a spear, narrowly deflecting his attacker’s blade. His opponent was a tall, broad-shouldered man in the same black uniform he’d learned to recognize as Terran, brandishing his oversized belt-knife as his only weapon. As soon as he’d parried the first blow, Raj was jumping back to avoid another. At range, having a phaser while your opponent carried only a knife was a major advantage, but up close the tables were turned, and it was all he could do to stay on the defensive.  
  
The next attack was a feint from the right, which Raj identified and followed as the real strike came in from the left. He thrust forward and caught the inside of the man’s arm, only to have the rifle wrenched from his hands. He’d followed the blade perfectly but neglected his attacker’s free hand, which caught his shoulder and dragged him to the floor. He caught a glimpse of the knife again, poised to run him through when a phaser bolt rang out and took the man between his shoulder blades. The knife fell to the floor, and the Terran collapsed.  
  
Raj took a moment to catch his breath, then took Jeremy’s outstretched hand. “Nice shooting, Caldwell. You couldn’t have waited a bit longer?”  
  
Jeremy managed a slight grin. “The two of you kept moving and I couldn’t get a clear shot. Your praise wouldn’t mean a whole lot if I’d killed you by mistake. Now let’s go get Naazt before any more of them show up.”  
  
The scene in the deflector control room was worse than he’d imagined. The control station itself had been almost completely destroyed by what had to be an improvised explosive device. Lying in a pool of blood not far away was their Chief Engineer. The left side of his uniform was singed from the blast, but the real trouble was the head wound. Something, or more likely someone, had hit him in the back of the head, tearing hair and flesh and almost certainly killing him if they didn’t act fast. Raj rushed to the Tellarite’s side and opened up his satchel, retrieving a first aid kit.  
  
“Caldwell, get me a trauma kit from the wall over there!” The lieutenant dashed away, and Raj went to work. He was certainly no doctor, but Sickbay was eleven decks above him, and with the turbolifts guarded there was no way to safely get his patient there safely. He loaded a hypospray with a standard cocktail of painkillers and antiseptics, pressed it to the base of Naazt’s neck, and hit the applicator. Tossing the hypo aside, he grabbed the dermal regenerator the moment Caldwell had it ready and began to close the wound.  
  
“Is he going to make it?” the lieutenant asked.  
  
“What he needs is a doctor,” Raj replied. “I’ve done the best that I can, and I think he’ll live, but he’s in no position to help us with what we need.”  
  
“What do we do now, then?”  
  
“If we can’t use the ship against our attackers, Caldwell, we use the crew. You said they had everyone locked in the ballroom, right? I think it’s time we made a late entrance to the party.”


	15. Chapter 15

_An agonizer?_ Shannon thought to herself in a panic as Jessica writhed and convulsed on the screen in front of her. _What kind of hellish place is this?_ She looked down at the badge on her own uniform to find that her Starfleet combadge had also been replaced by a strange new badge of the planet Earth impaled on a sword. Shannon reached up to touch it and felt a sharp, unpleasant twinge in the side of her neck. She flinched and reached for the badge again. This time, the pain in her neck lasted a full second, and it left Shannon’s heart racing. Whatever these agonizers were, they had put one in her, too.  
  
Back on the screen, the room was empty. For a brief, horrifying moment, Shannon considered the possibility that Jessica’s doppelganger wasn’t going to bring her back to the cell. _Whatever they do to her, I know she’s got more strength to take it than I would._ Sure, they trained you in Starfleet to resist interrogation, but there was a stark difference between training for interrogation in a safe environment and actually being interrogated.  
  
Shannon took a deep breath and began looking around the brig where she was being held. _Think logically. What do you notice?_ The architecture and design of the room, even though it was a collection of holding cells, looked familiar to her. All those years staring at blueprints in her father’s office had done her some good after all. _We’re in an Excelsior Class ship. I’d know it anywhere_. The next question, naturally, was why. Why were they on board a Federation vessel being controlled by malicious look-alikes of themselves, and why did they need _Babel_ ’s command codes?  
  
The entrance to the brig hissed open, and Jessica staggered in, escorted by two black-clad security officers with yellow piping on their pristine uniforms. Jessica’s Starfleet uniform, in contrast, was singed from the phaser shot that had taken her down and creased in places from the struggle. One of the security officers dropped the forcefield of their cell while the other trained a blaster on Shannon. The escorts thrust Shannon’s Chief of Security into the cell and immediately reinstated the forcefield behind her. Still stiff from her own encounter with a phaser bolt, Shannon barely managed to get underneath Jessica in time to catch her.  
  
“Jess,” Shannon said with a grunt as she hauled the other woman to one of the metal slabs that served as their beds. “Jess, are you alright?”  
  
“I’m fine,” she managed between ragged breaths. “You?”  
  
“I’m not the one they just finished interrogating. I’ve been trying to figure us a way out of here since they took you out of that room.” Shannon sat down on the bed beside the dark-haired woman. “We’re on an Excelsior Class ship for some reason, Starfleet make. What’s bothering me is why.”  
  
“ _Dauntless_ ,” Jessica said, still catching her breath.  
  
“What?” Shannon asked.  
  
“The _USS Dauntless_ ,” the woman repeated. “A Federation ship that went missing twenty years ago on a deep space exploration assignment under Admiral Patterson, just like _Babel_ ’s. Except it seems it didn’t go missing, just fell into enemy hands.”  
  
Shannon shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand, how can you be sure that this is that missing ship?”  
  
Jessica frowned and stared down at the floor of their cell. “Because last year Starfleet Intelligence intercepted a signal from the _Dauntless_ , and Admiral Patterson commissioned _Babel_ to find the source of that signal. The Captain suspected that something nefarious was going on, but didn’t know what, or who might be working for the Admiral.”  
  
“And he didn’t think it was important to tell this to his First Officer… why?”  
  
The Security Chief looked uncomfortable. “He... he said he didn’t know who he could trust, and the Admiral already has a reason to hate me.”  
  
Shannon felt affronted. She’d spent her entire life working in a science career, only to be ripped out of her comfort zone and placed in the role of second in command of a starship with no real experience to back the position. How had that made her worthy of suspicion? _I’m less trustworthy to the Captain than someone with a criminal background and a history of erratic behavior?_ The red-haired woman took a deep breath and ran her fingers along her scalp, stopping at the base of her bun. “Alright, I don’t have any concrete reasons not to believe you, so I’ll run with it. Before we can find out anything more, we need to get out of this cell. Starfleet brigs are secure, but they aren’t fortresses. There are a couple of potential weak points we can abuse assuming we can access them,” she paused, “and assuming whoever has been in possession of this ship hasn’t taken the liberties of fixing things.”  
  
All of those blueprints her father snuck home for her to pore over by the dim light of a reading lamp under her quilt as a child had been stored in the back of her mind. More than the sleek façades and skillful engineering, Shannon’s childhood interests had been piqued by design flaws and failsafes. One of them was a panel within holding cells, present in most ship designs of this one’s era, that could be loosened with some force from the right angle, giving access to the back end of the controls for the forcefield. The electrical field, which engulfed the entire cell, still delivered the usual shocks to deter curious prisoners looking for a way out, but once the panel had been pried from the wall, the interior portion of the forcefield disabled, allowing access to the wiring inside the wall. From there, it was just a matter of knowing which wires went where.  
  
“I have an idea,” Shannon said, getting up and walking over to where the panel ought to have been. “One of these plates should be able to pop free from the wall, but we’re going to have to go against the forcefield to get it off.”  
  
“And here I thought _I_ was the expert on security measures,” Jessica muttered. “Where’d you learn that?”  
  
“My father worked on Starships at Utopia Planitia,” she replied, bracing herself for the first wave of shocks from the forcefield as she attempted to pry the panel free from opposite corners. After a few seconds of sharp tingling all over her body, Shannon stopped, huffing. “When I was little,” she panted,” he used to sneak home blueprints on occasion because I liked to study them.” She reached for the panel again, digging her nails underneath this time, certain it was the correct panel. A few seconds later, she withdrew again. “I always liked finding the little hidden things,” she continued, catching her breath. “It was like a puzzle to me. I never expected I’d have to use it like this though.”  
  
Before going back for a third round of trying to remove the wall plate, Shannon let down her hair, removing two hairpins from her bun. From what she recalled, there were small latches at the back of the panel that could either be forced open or jimmied with a careful hand. She immersed her hands in the invisible blanket of energy surrounding the room, and the electric knives engulfed her body again. It wasn’t a searing pain, but it was an effective deterrent, and it took a significant amount of focus and endurance to power through for long periods of time. She tried to focus on the vibrations passing through the pins in her hands rather than the pain of the forcefield, but after nearly a quarter of a minute, she couldn’t feel her fingertips anymore and stepped back, out of breath and shaking.  
  
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Shannon admitted reluctantly as she sat down on the edge of the nearer bed. “I know it can work. I can’t imagine anyone has thought to fix that hidden failsafe, but I just can’t get it.”  
  
Jessica put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure it’ll work. Tell me what I need to do to help.”  
  
“The pins should be in the right place,” Shannon said with a pained sigh. “You just need to work them until you feel the latches on the back of the panel give way, then the whole thing should come right off and the interior forcefield should fall.”  
  
The raven-haired woman nodded and got to work. She grimaced as she tried to pry the panel loose, and Shannon began tapping her foot anxiously, worried that a guard would appear at any moment to put a premature end to their escape.  
  
“For what it’s worth,” Jessica said through clenched teeth, “I’m sorry.”  
  
“What for?” Shannon asked.  
  
“For treating you like a suspect when I should have been working with you. For blaming you for this assignment. For not being a friend when you needed one.”  
  
The confession took Shannon aback, but after a moment’s thought, she let out an abbreviated sigh. “Did you really have a choice?” she asked. “I know how Raj can be once he has his mind made up about something.”  
  
“You always have a choice. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that. Just because the Captain said something doesn’t mean he was right. Hey, I think I got it!”  
  
The panel popped loose and Jessica tumbled back into the cell just as the forcefield winked out of existence in front of them. Shannon’s heart raced at the prospect of freedom, and she pulled Jessica to her feet.  
  
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”  
  
“Not so fast,” came another voice, and she whipped her head back to the doorway only to see the business end of a phaser aimed right at her.


	16. Chapter 16

Jessica froze. It couldn’t be him. Standing across from Shannon, phaser in hand, was a clean-shaven blond-haired man who’d been dead for a year.  
  
“Kevin?” she managed unsteadily, drawing the attention of both the man and her commanding officer.  
  
“You know who I am?” he asked. “I suppose there would be a version of me on your side, wouldn’t there? That doesn’t change a thing. Get back in your cell, now, and I won’t have to shoot you.”  
  
“Who is he?” Shannon asked. She took it as a signal to keep him talking and give them time to figure out a plan.  
  
“He’s... in our world, he was Ensign Kevin Patterson, the Admiral’s grandson. I served with him on the _Magellan_.” She didn’t have to fake the look on her face as she recalled the sight of his broken body, draped in the Federation flag at his funeral service. The young man took the bait.  
  
"Was?"  
  
"You... _he_ died on an away mission last year. He saved my life, and your... _his_ grandfather never forgave me for it."  
  
“It sounds like overbearing, legacy-obsessed grandfathers are something he and I had in common, then,” Kevin said with a grimace. “Now, please get back in your cell. I won’t ask again.”  
  
“Damn it, Kevin!” The words burst out before Jessica could stop herself. “Is this really what you want? What’s the point in all of this? Why attack us?”  
  
“The point?” He rounded on her, training the phaser on her instead of Shannon. “What else is there? We fight, kill, steal if we have to because if we don’t do it first, someone else will take what we have! If you’d found us first, you’d have done the same!”  
  
Jessica didn’t have a chance to reply before Shannon slammed the wall panel against the back of the man’s head. He tumbled to the floor and the tall redhead grabbed the loose phaser before turning back to Jessica.  
  
“Sorry to break up the reunion, but we need to get out of here.”  
  
“And where exactly are we going?” she snapped back.  
  
“Nowhere yet,” Shannon responded as she bent down and rolled Kevin Patterson’s unconscious body onto its side and removed the combadge from his chest. She pressed the brooch between her fingers. “Computer, locate Commander Jessica Barnes.”  
  
 _“Commander Jessica Barnes is on the bridge.”_  
  
“There’s your answer,” Shannon said, pocketing the combadge and turning back to face her. “ _Babel_ is in trouble, and this ship is responsible. We need to get out of here, but before we can do that, we need to make sure the _Dauntless_ won’t vaporize us as soon as we beam back. Besides, this way we might even learn a thing or two.”  
  
“And how are we going to reach the bridge? Even I know we can’t fight our way there.”  
  
Shannon smiled. “First, we find a replicator. After that, I think we can talk our way anywhere we need to go.”


	17. Chapter 17

David heard the whine of a phaser discharge from across the ballroom a moment before he heard screaming from the cluster of non-human hostages. The crowd around him began to panic, and he watched the guards shift uncomfortably. He shuffled forward, trying his best not to look out of place as he made his way to the edge of the crowd, which was now pushing against the armed guards.  
  
“What’s going on?” he asked, echoing the shouts from the others beside him until he was shoved back by one of his captors violently.  
  
“Stay back!” the man shouted, brandishing the rifle. His eyes and weapon twitched back and forth from one hostage to another nervously, and for a moment, David thought the man was about to fire. He felt another shove from behind him as he collided with a fellow crewman, and this time he fell forward, right into the armed man, sending them both collapsing to the ground.  
  
“Get off me!” the man shouted, his voice frenzied and panicked, and David clutched his arms to his chest as he felt himself being dragged away by another pair of arms as the familiar tones of Lieutenant Johnson barked orders to hostages and guards alike.  
  
“Stand down! No one needs to die right now, and we can avoid that if all of you would shut up and do as you’re told!” He began to pace up and down the perimeter, until he came to a halt in front of David, still held tightly by one of the guards.  
  
“Mister Brahms, is there a problem?” he asked, his voice calm and sinister.  
  
David’s whole body began to tremble as he clenched his right hand into a shaky fist and crossed it over his torso, pinning his opposite arm underneath it. “N-no, sir,” he mumbled, cowering behind his arms and staggering a small step to the left. “I... I tripped... I’m sorry.”  
  
Johnson’s face twisted in a mix of scorn and pity. “See that it doesn’t happen again.”  
  
As the crowd settled down and the guards took up their posts once again, David retreated to safety in the middle of the mass of crewmen. He allowed himself just a quick glance under his jacket. The guard’s sidearm was still in his grasp, and now all he had to do was wait for the right time to use it.

  
  
***

  
“There aren’t any guards at the door,” Jeremy noted quietly as he and Raj peered out through the crack between the door panels of the maintenance hatch. It opened onto a balcony that overlooked the ballroom, which was as noisy as they had expected, but not with the sounds of holiday festivities.  
  
Jeremy pried the doors open the rest of the way and he and the captain slipped out onto the balcony. Unlike most Starfleet designs, the ballroom was built with grandeur primarily in mind rather than functionality. The high, vaulted ceilings of the room carried sound flawlessly up to the gallery where the captain and Jeremy hunkered down just above the level of the tinted half-wall that served as the only barrier between them and the room below. In the low lighting, the glass was practically opaque.  
  
The room was divided into two groups. Human attendees had been herded onto one side of the room and were being kept in a close huddle, while on the other side of the room, all non-human guests were being prodded and harassed like livestock. Jeremy felt anger rising in the pit of his stomach, but he forced it down. He needed to remain level-headed.  
  
“Now what?” Jeremy asked, but the captain’s answer was cut off by the sudden racket of phaser fire. By the time he’d turned to see where it had come from, all Jeremy could see was the crowd of non-humans parting around whoever had fallen. On the other side of the room, a second commotion had started, and one of the black-uniformed guards toppled to the ground with a young man on top of him.  
  
 _David!_ The geologist recognized the former helmsman with a shock and a pang of guilt. _The first thing he shows his face for, he ends up caught in a hostage situation. The kid can’t catch a break._  
  
“Did you see that?” Raj asked as the two men stood up and David wobbled on his feet as a familiar-looking figure in a Starfleet uniform approached him and began demanding to know what had happened.  
  
Jeremy glanced from the captain to the scene below. “Isn’t that Chief Naazt’s first man? Jackson or something?”  
  
Raj didn’t take his eyes off the room. “Johnson, and yes it is. That’s not what I was referring to. Look at David.”  
  
“He looks hurt.”  
  
“He looks like he’s concealing something.” Raj turned and looked at Jeremy, sinking down below the cover of the balcony wall. “I think he swiped the phaser from that guard. Smart kid. All he needs now is an opening.” Jeremy crouched out of sight and nodded. “I see three guards herding the group on the left and two, plus Johnson, keeping the others in line. We take out the guards on the left first. These people are as xenophobic as they come. They won’t hesitate to kill non-human members of our crew if they think it’ll get them somewhere. Once the first three are down, we take out whoever is left.”  
  
“What about the door?” Jeremy asked, squinting to see through the shaded glass, but to no avail. “There ought to be at least two guards posted at the door on either side.  
  
“As soon as they hear multiple shots, they’ll run for backup. In case they don’t, I need you to drop down there and take them out once the other guards are dealt with. I’ll come in from the hallway and remove any others still waiting in the corridor.”  
  
“And Johnson?”  
  
Raj replied with a stony glare and continued with his orders. “Set that rifle to kill. We’re not here to fill up the brig.”  
  
“Aye, sir.”  
  
“On my mark,” Raj said, positioning himself to take the first shot at one of the guards. “I’ll take the far one between the Bolian and the Andorian.”  
  
Jeremy readied himself and lined up a shot on the nearest guard, his finger on the trigger, awaiting the signal.  
  
“Now.”  
  
In tandem, the two men fired off a quick volley of shots, two pulls each, taking down their respective guards. By the time the third had a moment to register what had happened, a bright orange bolt had buried itself in his torso and he was on his way to the ground. Raj and Jeremy rounded on the other group’s guards. Jeremy fired a shot and missed wide, singing the carpet. Raj’s follow-up took the target down. A second body fell following a phaser blast from down below, but whoever had shot the second guard had disappeared into the crowd before either of the men could tell who it had been.  
  
“Go,” Raj snapped over the rising chaos of the room below. “I’ll head for the corridors.”  
  
Without stopping to think. Jeremy nodded and vaulted over the gallery rail. There was a narrow lip on the opposite side where he paused for only a moment before turning and jumping for the nearest table. His plan to land and roll rapidly deteriorated from a no-brainer move to an Olympic-level gymnastics stunt as time slowed between the balcony and the surface some two meters below him. He came crashing down on the table’s surface, shattering several plates and glasses as he turned up into a barely-salvaged roll and landed feet-first on the ballroom floor.  
  
Behind him, before he could get his bearings, Jeremy heard a loud charging growl, and he whirled around just in time to bring the butt of his rifle up into the nose of an oncoming guard. The man hit the floor with a loud thud. Phaser fire from a shadowed corner at the front of the room grazed his shoulder, searing a hole in his dinner jacket.  
  
“Now that’s just rude!” Jeremy shouted as he fired several shots into the dark recess until he heard a body crumple to the floor.  
  
 _Those must have been the two door guards_ , he thought, taking a moment to make sure there was no one else on that side of the room. He bent down and swiped the phaser off of the man in front of him, slinging it across his shoulders by the strap as he turned around. Two doors at the back of the room opened and another pair of guards stepped in from either side.  
  
 _Shit._  
  
He charged for the bar in the middle of the room and vaulted up onto the top of it, kicking drinks and bottles every which way. Jeremy took aim at the two guards standing by the crowd of non-human guests, taking down one of them with a single shot. Before he could fire at the second one, an Andorian woman in a deep magenta dress charged out of the crowd, screaming obscenities, and leveled the brawny man with an exceptionally audible punch to the center of his face. The man dropped and didn’t move, blood oozing slowly out of his nose.  
  
On the other side of the room, a series of phaser blasts from the far end of the crowd dropped the remaining two guards. The doors from which they’d entered remained open, but no other reinforcements came through. As the same realization washed over the rest of the gala attendees, the all turned to face Jeremy for further instructions.  
  
Behind him, the ballroom doors hissed open and Raj stepped through, rifle slung over his shoulder and pistol drawn. His shirt was singed in several places, but the rest of him looked untouched. As Jeremy hopped down off the bar and approached the captain, the injured man on the floor beneath the balcony began to get up. Without a moment’s pause, Raj aimed his pistol at the man and fired.  
  
“Caldwell,” Raj barked, “let’s get these people out of here.”  
  
“Going so soon?” came a voice from the shadows. The two men turned to see Jack Johnson step from concealment behind a large statue at the edge of the room. He had a phaser rifle aimed at both of them. “The party has only just started. I can’t have you leaving already.”  
  
“You’re outgunned,” Jeremy said, reaching slowly for the phaser pistol on his belt. “We’ve swept the room, what’s one more man down?”  
  
“Such bravado from a man whose cowardice led to the mutilation of our best helmsman,” Johnson said with a sneer. “I’d keep your hands off that phaser if I were you. I’d hate to be the one explaining to Starfleet how your captain died because of your impulsive nature.”  
  
Raj gave Jeremy a hard look from under deeply furrowed and graying brows, and the mousy-haired man dropped his hand from his sidearm.  
  
“What do you want, Johnson?” the captain growled, glued to his spot. It was less of a question than it was a demand.  
  
“I already have what I want, or I did before you two arrived and crashed my party.” Jack Johnson glanced at the open door out into the hallway. “The second wave of reinforcements should be here any minute now. Set down your weapons and I’ll make sure you two end up in the brig instead of face-down in the carpet.”  
  
“How generous.” Jeremy rolled his eyes.  
  
“Caldwell!” Raj snapped through clenched teeth.  
  
“The choice is yours, gentlemen.” Johnson spread his arms in an open gesture, and a phaser shot rang out in the otherwise silent ballroom. The black-haired man gasped, staggering a few steps to the left before crumpling to the ground, motionless.  
  
Raj and Jeremy both turned to look at the crowd of human attendees, all of whom had stepped back from David, who stood alone, his posture slightly askew, phaser in hand, still pointing at where Jack Johnson had stood.  
  
“How’s that for an answer, _Jack_?” he muttered before tossing the phaser to the ground and limping back into the crowd.  
  
Jeremy stood there in stunned silence, staring at Johnson’s dead body and the abandoned phaser a few meters away. The sound of a familiar voice from the far side of the room shook him from his stupor.  
  
“We need medical assistance over here! Koltak’s been shot!”  
  
Raj and Jeremy shared a look, a nod, and a sense of what came next as they both took to action. The captain headed for the back of the room as Jeremy began to round up the firearms from the fallen guards to be redistributed to willing members of the crowd. He had known it was going to be a long night, but this hadn’t at all been what he’d had in mind. The geologist cleared a space on the bar and began laying out spare weapons. In that moment of quiet amidst the chaos of that evening, he wondered for a moment where they could have taken Jess and Shannon. Of all the people on this ship, he knew Jess could handle herself in a tight situation, but having seen the numbers and weapons on the invaders, he worried she might be in over her head.  
  
 _We’ll get you back_ , he swore silently. _Whatever the cost._


	18. Chapter 18

A pair of young crewmen hastily averted their eyes and made room for Shannon and Jessica as they marched confidently down the hallway. Jessica tightened her grip on the phaser and tried to keep her face calm, determined, and just a little menacing. Leaning forward, she lowered her voice to a whisper.  
  
“Do you ever feel like we’re in over our heads?”  
  
“Only every day since this mission started,” Shannon whispered back. Her hands bound in front of her, she maintained the nervous prisoner facade with remarkable accuracy, no doubt in part because she was as nervous as Jessica was. They rounded the corner and came to a halt just outside a door marked COMMUNICATIONS in bold red lettering. Jessica checked to make sure they hadn’t been followed, then stepped in front of Shannon and keyed the door control.  
  
The door slid open, and she swept the room, ready for a fight. Thankfully, the room was empty. She beckoned Shannon inside, and the redhead followed, removing the unlocked restraints and taking a seat at a nearby console. She nodded back to the entrance.  
  
“Jess, watch the door. I’ll try to be quick, but I wouldn’t want them to take us by surprise.”  
  
Jessica nodded and leaned against the wall, keeping her phaser trained on the door. With only one entrance to the room, there wasn’t much for her to do other than make conversation.  
  
“You know, I’m sorry about what happened.”  
  
Shannon frowned, not taking her eyes off of the console. “What do you mean?”  
  
Jessica grimaced. “Where do I even start, Shannon? I’ve treated you like an enemy instead of a friend for the last six months. I didn’t treat you like a commanding officer, I treated you like a suspect! I _spied_ on you! And when I found the first piece of evidence that made you a plausible suspect, I ignored all the other reasons to trust you and ended up putting both of us here, instead of back on Babel where we could be helping our crew.”  
  
Shannon’s fingers paused and hovered over the interface for a moment before resuming their work. “You were just doing your duty. I probably would have done the same.”  
  
“No you wouldn’t have, Shannon, and that’s exactly my point! I came into this mission with a grudge against you for taking a job I thought I deserved, and I projected every possible motive on you when I thought I could justify it. You _wouldn’t_ have done the same to me, because you’re better than that, and we both know it.”  
  
“Alright, so maybe I wouldn’t have taken the same approach that you did, but that’s also why I’m not Chief of Security.”  
  
The tension in the air between them was palpable as the redheaded woman continued to work the communications console. A few button presses more, and the computer made an affirmative chirp and a series of squelching noises as it processed the input. Shannon turned around. “Look, I can tell you’re upset, and I can’t tell if it’s with me or with yourself. If you’re waiting for me to admit that I hate you or that I want you off my crew, it’s not going to happen. You were following your instincts -- _your_ instincts, not mine -- and they led you down a false path. No one is right one-hundred-percent of the time, Jess. We learn from our mistakes and we move forward.”  
  
The ship’s computer let out another series of assenting chirps, and Shannon turned back around, crouching down in front of the console and removing the faceplate from the base of the station. “Why don’t you tell me something about yourself?” she said with a grunt, reaching into the exposed guts of the machine and sliding process chips in and out of place. “What’s your favorite drink? How do you unwind? Start with the little things. We’ll build up from there.”  
  
Jessica let out a long breath and felt an invisible weight lift from her shoulders. “It really is that easy with you, isn’t it? Just water under the bridge?”  
  
Shannon shrugged, continuing her work without looking up. “No sense holding onto grudges. Most of the time, they just hold you back.”  
  
It was a pointed comment, but not an undeserved one. Jessica smiled, and let herself think back to happier memories. “I don’t know if it’s my favorite, but I can go through raktajino by the pitcher if I need to focus.”  
  
“That Klingon gruel they drink like coffee?” Shannon asked with enough force that her head crashed against the underside of the workstation. “I don’t know how you can drink that, it’s revolting!”  
  
The younger woman let out a laugh. “It is, but it grows on you after a while. I told you I served on a Klingon ship for three months, right? It was the tamest drink their replicators had programmed. I swore I’d never drink it again once I got back to the _Magellan_ , but I found myself craving the stuff after a week.”  
  
“I can’t imagine craving something that looks and tastes like that stuff does, but if it makes you happy, I guess that’s what counts, right?” Shannon shuffled backward and examined her handiwork. “I prefer homestyle coffee -- Black, with a little brown sugar, a touch of whiskey, and a little cream on top. It’s the perfect drink any time of day if you ask me.”  
  
“That sounds sickeningly sweet,” Jessica said with a smile. “Now, tell me you found something useful down there.”  
  
Shannon shuffled backward and replaced the console’s front panel before getting to her feet and dusting off her black uniform pants, which were already dirtied well beyond the point of brushing clean. “It should be just about set. I just need to give it a few more… There.” the redhead pressed a series of buttons and the sound of other voices talking came in over the speakers.  
  
 _“I’m getting tired of waiting,”_ a man’s voice spat. _“O’Malley has had more than enough time to take over the ship. Something has gone wrong.”  
  
“She just needs time,”_ came the reply. Jessica recognized her own voice instantly. Now she knew for sure that they were on the right track.  
  
 _“She’s had more than enough time!”_ the man shouted. _“We prepared for this. Our agents on their ship provided her with everything she needed for a swift takeover. Either something has gone wrong, or she’s plotting against me. Now, which is it, Lieutenant?”_  
  
Her counterpart stammered. _“I... I don’t know, sir, I only reported what-”  
  
“I’m not _interested _in what you_ don’t _know, Lieutenant!”_ The man, whose voice seemed familiar but just out of reach, continued to shout over her. _“I_ will _be Emperor, and there will be no room in my Empire for those who stand in my way. If you want there to be a place for you, I suggest you contact O’Malley and see that the delay is taken care of._ Babel _needs to be made ready to enter the rift. I don’t care whether you recruit the Starfleet crew, kill them, or beam them all into space, but I want my ship ready soon. Patterson out.”_  
  
The channel went dead, and Jessica felt a lump in her throat as she stared at the console. She should have known that even here, Patterson would find a way to threaten her.  
  
“It sounds like someone’s putting up a fight back on _Babel_ ,” she said carefully. A delay that caused trouble for their attackers didn’t necessarily mean things were going well for her crew, either. If it did come down to deck-wide firefights, there would be casualties even if the defenders fought well, not to mention the treatment of any captured crewmembers.  
  
Shannon looked distracted, though, chewing nervously on her lip as she worked through whatever was on her mind. “He said something about preparing the ship for a rift. What do you think he meant?”  
  
“Not a rift,” came a young man’s voice, and Jessica spun toward the door, drawing her phaser and cursing herself for getting distracted from her only task. Just inside the doorway, slightly bruised from their last encounter but otherwise unharmed, stood Kevin Patterson. “ _The_ rift.”  
  
“Stay where you are,” Jessica said shakily, phaser aimed at the man’s chest. “Now, put your hands in the air.”  
  
Kevin complied, raising his arms slowly, his hands open with his palms facing the two women. He didn’t look surprised, or angry, or even nervous. Instead, his face carried the weight of his determination. He didn’t wait for her permission to continue.  
  
“The rift is a naturally-occurring, multidimensional phase inversion, roughly six hundred meters in diameter, floating here in empty space. The rift acts like a gateway between our universe and yours.”  
  
“That’s ridiculous,” Shannon replied. “Something strong enough to create a stable dimensional gateway would have shown up on our sensors from light-years away. Everyone in this sector would be swarming it at all hours just to get a look.”  
  
Jessica frowned. “Commander, with all due respect, this isn’t the time for an argument. If he found us, then he’s already called for backup.”  
  
“And what would I have said?” the man asked, turning to face her. “‘Lieutenant, could you please send a security team to help apprehend the prisoners I let escape?’ She’d have me locked in a cell with my agonizer on for a week. Besides, you gave me something to think about back in the brig. I’m not sure I can stomach your Federation, but if it meant seeing my grandfather stripped of everything he cares about, I’d be happy to throw my lot in with you.”  
  
She turned and shared a look with Shannon, who gave an uncertain shrug. This Kevin was a far cry from the man she’d known, but the look on his face seemed genuine, and she’d played enough poker with _her_ Kevin to know if he was lying.  
  
“Alright,” she said with a sigh, “let’s say for the moment that we believe you. You didn’t answer Commander O’Malley’s question.”  
  
“That one’s easy,” he said. “The rift is saturated with triolic radiation, masking its signature from long range. My grandfather was the captain of the _Dauntless_ , one of the last ships to fly the Terran flag after the Empire collapsed, and he was in this sector when your Federation ship of the same name sent a probe through the rift. That’s how he found it. Naturally, he sent a probe back, with a message inviting the Federation ship to visit our side. That’s how he confirmed his suspicions about the dangers of traveling the rift. Even with their shields raised, the radiation burned through their defenses, roasted the crew alive, and fried most of the ship’s essential systems.”  
  
“That’s horrible,” Shannon and Jessica said in unison.  
  
“That's an effective tactical strategy,” Kevin replied. It took years of raiding and salvaging, but he got the ship up and running again, and found a way to modify the ship’s shields and deflector array to safely carry it through the rift to the other side. What better place to hide from your empire’s enemies than a reality where they don’t exist?”  
  
“And then you used the captured Starfleet vessel as bait to lure us in,” Jessica added. “It might not be a flagship, but _Babel_ ’s technology is still decades ahead of what your ships have.”  
  
“All very true, but not without Starfleet’s help. Or more precisely, the help of one Admiral Elias Patterson. Now your version and mine are working together to spin their little web, with me stuck at the center of it.”  
  
Shannon frowned. “What do you have to do with it?”  
  
“What do _I_ have to do with it?” he repeated. “I’m the center of it all. I was the bait that lured the Admiral in. I was the one they used to contact him, to sway him to our side by dangling his dead grandson in front of him like a puppet on a string. I don’t know the man, and he doesn’t know me, but when he sees my face he can pretend none of it ever happened. He doesn’t even care what side I’m on, only that his _legacy_ continues.”  
  
“Back in the brig,” Jessica interrupted, “you were surprised when I mentioned knowing you. Our version of you.”  
  
He let out a manic laugh. “I lied, Jessica! That’s all I’m good for! I lie to your Admiral and let him pretend I’m his flesh and blood. I lie to my grandfather and tell him his crew loves him, so that it will be that much sweeter when O’Malley guts him like a fish and takes your ship for herself. I lie to you, Jessica, or my version of you, and let her think that no one can hear her scream when the Commander takes her aside to test her _loyalty_. And of course, I lied to O’Malley when I told her I’d keep her informed on the status of her two favorite prisoners. I’m tired of lying, Jessica. I’m tired of living like this. Frankly, at the end of the day, I’m just tired. I’ve lived my whole life being someone else’s plaything, and I’m ready to put an end to it all.”


	19. Chapter 19

Despite the familiar hum of the Starfleet turbolift up to the bridge of the _Dauntless_ , Shannon felt anything but right at home. The Terran uniform sat strangely across her torso, and the large knife at her hip made her feel uneven and off-balance. _Fuss over your appearance later_ , she thought to herself. The persona she’d have to pull off if this next step was going to work was going to be a one totally unfamiliar to her. _Think somewhere between Jess when she’s mad and… and what?_ All she had to go off of were a few lines from her mirror counterpart and as vivid of a description as Kevin could manage.  
  
The turbolift came to a soft halt, and Shannon hardened her expression, folding her hands behind her back. The doors parted, and Commander O’Malley stepped out onto the bridge.  
  
“Lieutenant!” Shannon barked, surprising even herself with the forceful tone she’d mustered. Jessica Barnes, the Terran counterpart, spun around in shock, her posture resolving to military proper. The fear in her eyes overshadowed any confusion.  
  
“Commander!” she exclaimed, eyes darting nervously left and right. “I... we didn’t expect you. What can I do for you?”  
  
“You can come with me and explain why you haven’t made any headway with the prisoners yet.” _A little on the nose, but it’s an easy enough lie that I know doesn’t have a hole in it_. “Ensign Tanner,” Shannon called brusquely, praying that Kevin’s description of the bridge officers was accurate, and a young man at the ops station jumped. “You have the bridge. Don’t fail me.” She turned her attention back to the Terran version of Jessica. “We’ll return… In due time.” Without another word, Shannon turned and strode back toward the turbolift. Behind her, she heard Lieutenant Barnes fall obediently into step, like a scorned pup on an invisible lead.  
  
The two entered the lift and the doors closed. Shannon gave the ship’s computer its orders: “Deck Seventeen.” Beside her, Mirror Jessica was silently picking at her nails. “Stop that,” she snapped. The dark-haired woman quickly dropped her hands to her side and anxiously avoided making eye contact or any other potentially irritating movements.  
  
The interrogation room attached to the brig was equipped with soundproof walls, a restraint chair, and a standard panel lock, as far as she’d been able to tell. Kevin and her Jessica were waiting nearby, with Kevin on guard and Jess back in a holding cell. Once Shannon had the Terran version of Jessica Barnes tied down in the interrogation room, the other two could swing in and complete the switch.  
  
Still avoiding and direct glances at her superior, the dark-haired woman attempted to give a report. “I-I told them to push harder for more information, but Starfleet interrogation training seems to have better prepared them than we anticipated.”  
  
“I don’t recall asking you to make excuses,” Shannon responded coldly, her hands still clasped behind her back and her gaze fixated unwaveringly on the wall in front of her. “You were given orders and you have failed to see them through to completion in a timely manner.”  
  
“We have to be close now,” she insisted, her tone pleading. “They’ve been at it for--”  
  
Shannon rounded on the other woman, mustering all the anger and vitriol her heritage could provide. “We don’t have time for ‘close,’ Lieutenant. Your time is up, and so is theirs.” She glared fiercely at the Terran Jessica Barnes, who cowered in fear of her superior. The turbolift came to a halt, and Shannon squared her shoulders and stepped out into the corridor of Deck Seventeen. When they reached the entrance to the interrogation room, the other woman took the lead, her shoulders slumped and her head bowed in shame.  
  
 _Once we’re in, Jess should be able to see what’s going on from the screen in her cell_ , Shannon thought as she wordlessly secured the restraints on the chair that Lieutenant Barnes had obediently situated herself in. Once the final restraint was in place, Shannon paced behind the chair to wait.  
  
“I’m disappointed in you, Jessica,” she said, biding her time as she removed the Starfleet phaser from where she’d hidden it on her belt. “You’ve failed at a task that should have been so simple. Not to worry, we’ll find a use for you yet.”  
  
Shannon fired the phaser, set on a high stun setting, at the woman in the chair. The beam hit her in the side, and the woman went limp instantly. Not two seconds later, the door to the interrogation room hissed open, and Kevin and her Jessica stepped inside.  
  
“I wonder if she’ll feel more confused or relieved once she wakes up and realized I didn’t torture her to within an inch of her life.” Starfleet training had prepared them for plenty of odd scenarios, but Shannon didn’t think any training could have prepared her for being on the giving end of a torture session. She was glad that wasn’t a required part of the plan.  
  
“Hopefully, by the time she’s conscious enough to think about it, we’ll be long gone,” Jess said, walking toward her stunned double. “Kevin, watch the door. Shannon, give me a hand?”  
  
Kevin turned his back to the women as Shannon and Jess got to work unshackling the Terran woman.  
  
“If I swap uniforms with her, no one really ought to question it,” Jess said, removing her jacket. “The only ones who know it’s supposed to be their version of me are on the bridge, and I don’t think any of them are bold enough to question a switch.” She paused, looking down at the badge she’d been given. “If this thing tries to kill me…”  
  
“Just don’t touch it. It only seems to go off if you try to remove it directly.”  
  
Jessica looked unconvinced.  
  
“I changed without a problem,” Shannon reminded her. Carefully, Jessica continued taking off her jacket, stripping down to the high-collared undershirt that sat underneath it.  
  
“You also didn’t have to feel what it delivered when it _did_ go off.” She draped the jacket over the arm of the chair and reached for the one Shannon had taken from her Terran doppelganger. “For your sake, I hope you never do.” The dark-haired woman fastened the black uniform jacket and secured the large knife to her hip as Shannon worked the undershirt and jacket onto the unconscious woman and replaced the restraints on the chair.  
  
“So where do we go from here?” Kevin asked. Neither of the two women had been sure exactly how far to trust him, so they’d agreed to only give him one step of the plan at a time.  
  
“Now,” Shannon answered, “we need to get everyone off of this ship.”


	20. Chapter 20

“I want eyes on every doorway and balcony,” Raj barked. “Gather the wounded and set up triage stations up against the aft wall where you have the most cover. They don’t have the manpower to take you in an assault, which means they’ll be opportunistic and try to draw you out. Stay behind cover and return fire from where you are, don’t try to take the fight to them. Understood?”  
  
Dozens of wide-eyed scientists and engineers nodded nervously, spare sidearms in hand. For the next few hours, they would be the only defense for the medical teams taking care of the wounded. Doctor Dupont, who’d been found hiding out in a maintenance tube with two other latecomers to the gala, was overseeing Koltak, the Gliesian crewmember who’d been shot shortly before Raj and Jeremy’s arrival. Ensigns Thriss and Benson had taken it upon themselves to organize the rest of the crew and were assembling teams to carry out the jobs Raj had dictated.  
  
“Security teams are armed and ready, Captain,” reported Lieutenant Caldwell. Forced into action, the science officer had proven himself to be as capable as Raj had believed and was acting as his second for as long as O’Malley and Barnes were still captive aboard the _Dauntless_.  
  
“Good work, Lieutenant,” Raj replied, turning to give the man his full attention. “We’re headed for Deck Fifteen. Most of the Terran troops are retreating to the upper decks, but they won’t give up the armory without a fight. You and I are taking our team up and across the deck from the port side, and Ensign Meeko’s team is coming at them from the starboard. Once we take the armory, we can make our way to the bridge. Any questions?”  
  
Jeremy shook his head. “No sir.”  
  
“Good. Let’s get moving.”  
  
Between Raj, Jeremy, and the security team, there were eight of them. Not enough for a frontal assault, but still more than enough for a strike team. Raj led them through the Jefferies tubes, climbing down the four decks to their destination. He watched as the first Terran patrol went by, then emerged from the access hatch, leaving half of his team behind. He signaled for three of the security personnel to take up positions at the next corridor, joining them in waiting for the patrol to return.  
  
The minutes went by, and Raj fought the rising impatience that came with any ambush. He steadied his breathing, calling on his buried training to maintain his focus until finally, he heard the footfalls that signaled the return of the patrol. He ducked back behind the corridor wall as the first man came into view, then counted to ten before leaning out and taking his shot. There were five guards in the patrol, and two fell from his team’s phaser fire before they had time to react. As the remaining three guards raised their rifles, Jeremy’s team emerged from the maintenance hatches, firing in rapid succession until the entire patrol was down.  
  
“Clear!” The lieutenant called out, and Raj and his team met him in the hallway.  
  
“Nice shooting,” Raj said, nodding at the fallen Terrans. He stopped at one of the bodies and took the combadge from the man’s uniform and tossed it to Jeremy, who was far more suited to sounding like a young, nervous guard than he was. The younger man nodded and pressed the hidden button on the front of the badge.  
  
“We need backup, Deck Fifteen, Section Twelve! Send help!” Satisfied, he tossed the badge on the floor next to its owner.  
  
Raj readied his rifle and looked back to his team. “That should give Meeko’s team all the help they need. Now let's move.”  
  
They took off at a brisk jog and were just in time to hear the sound of phaser fire coming from outside of the armory. Raj motioned for his team to take their positions just as a voice, presumably the Terran commander, called for his team to fall back. Half a dozen black-clad guards rounded the corner in retreat, only to walk right into Raj’s team’s line of fire.  
  
“Clear!” Raj yelled, loud enough for the other team to hear. Ensign Meeko, Jessica’s second in command of Security, rounded the corner with his team.  
  
“Good work, Captain,” the young man said in his clipped accent. “We encountered one patrol on our way here, not counting this group you pulled out of the armory.”  
  
“Any casualties?” Raj asked, noting the weary state of Meeko’s team.  
  
“Two crewmen grazed, but not seriously hurt,” the ensign replied. “What now?”  
  
“Now,” Raj said carefully, “we arm ourselves to retake the ship.”


	21. Chapter 21

Shannon strode down the corridor of Deck Twelve toward Main Engineering with Kevin following diligently behind her. “How many crewmembers ought to be down here?”  
  
“We’re running with a skeleton crew as it is, and most of them are running the mission on your ship,” Kevin explained, pausing to do some mental math. “I think at most we’d be looking at three or four engineers down here to make sure everything keeps running and _Dauntless_ is ready to make her getaway as soon as orders are given.”  
  
“The two of us against a few startled engineers,” Shannon pondered aloud. “Those aren’t terrible odds.” Ideally, she’d have liked to lure anyone out of harm’s way, but there was no subtle way to get all of the crewmembers to leave their posts in Main Engineering. _It’s either this or let the xenoterrorists from an alternate timeline take over_ Babel _and wreak havoc on their universe._ Shannon drew in a deep breath as they approached the double doors. _The needs of the many…_  
  
Wearing her “mirror” O’Malley façade, Shannon stepped through the entrance of Main Engineering, and the four officers at their posts looked up. Immediately, they stood at attention, fear in their eyes. _She really does have everyone on this ship under her thumb._ “Back to work!”  
  
The crewmembers, none of whom could have been higher than Lieutenant Junior Grade based on their apparent ages, snapped their attention back to their workstations. Shannon gave Kevin a signaling glance, and the two raised their phasers and fired at the backs of the engineers at their posts. Without a fuss or a wasted shot, four bodies crumpled to the floor.  
  
“We’ve got to move quickly,” Shannon said, bee-lining for the master systems display table in the center of the front of the room.” Jess is waiting on our move, and the longer we take down here, the more people we’re liable to lose back on _Babel_.”  
  
Her fingers hovered over the display as she rattled her memory for how to operate the controls. _They’re not here…_ Finally, she found the coolant controls on one of the workstations deeper inside Main Engineering. Shannon dragged her index and middle fingers down the panel simultaneously, throttling the flow of coolant to the warp core. On a panel in front of the core itself, if her memory of the diagrams and her long-ago days at the Academy served her right, were the plasma controls for the ship’s engine.  
  
“You certainly know your way around a starship.”  
  
Shannon half expected to see Kevin aiming his phaser at her when she turned around, but he stood exactly where she’d left him, one hand on the hilt of his combat knife, beside the door.  
  
“I took a pretty vested interest in them when I was very young,” she explained, turning back to the console, relieved. “My father used to design these ships, and he loved bringing me to the shipyards for tours. I certainly never complained. I learned at a young age that adults underestimate how much children pay attention.”  
  
In a similar but opposite motion to before, Shannon pressed two fingers to the smooth display and dragged the controls for the local plasma conduits toward the top of their meters. The engine room filled with an angry, gradually intensifying hum.  
  
“Computer, disable engineering controls, authorization O’Malley Alpha-Nine-Nine-Omega-Four.”  
  
 _“Voice identification: Confirmed. Access code: Denied.”_  
  
“Default security override Tango-Tango-Eight-Six-Foxtrot-Sierra-Nine.”  
  
There was no answer for several agonizing seconds. Finally, the computer chirped affirmatively and the consoles blinked off.  
  
“Wha-” Kevin stammered, looking utterly bewildered. “How?”  
  
“Troubleshooting commands,” Shannon explained casually. “They’re usually never touched once a ship leaves drydock, but a top-level command auth can re-enable them. My voice signature matched, but the passcode didn’t… So, I used the ship’s default.”  
  
“A default? Like a backdoor? That seems like a massive security hole.” The two stepped out into the hall just as the ship’s computer made the first announcement of an impending warp core breach.  
  
Shannon picked up the pace and jogged for the turbolift. “It’s a mechanic’s key. Most people who don’t work in dry dock aren’t aware they exist.”  
  
“Still, that’s a lot of power in the hands of random mechanics. If one wanted to stage some kind of attack, it would be impossibly easy.”  
  
The turbolift doors parted and the two ran inside. “You’ve clearly never met many shipbuilders,” she said with a little snort. “Computer, Deck Ten.”


	22. Chapter 22

Jessica straightened her Terran uniform as the turbolift slowed its ascent to the bridge. The door slid open, and she put on a mask of shame and contained anger, appearing thoroughly chastened to the rest of the crew. _They won’t even meet my eye,_ she realized, her thoughts drifting to her counterpart, now bound and disguised in the ship’s brig. _Is this all her life has to offer? Living in fear of her superior, and taking that fear out on whoever she can? If our positions had been reversed, would I have turned into her?_  
  
She marched to the center of the bridge and took her seat, trying to focus on the mission. _All I have to do is wait, but there has to be something useful I can do in the meantime._ She turned toward the young man monitoring the sensor grid and barked an order. “Ensign, bring me a PADD with all of our data on the rift.”  
  
“R-right away, Lieutenant!” the man stammered, returning shortly with the small tablet. Remembering the character she was playing, she took it without looking at him, waving him away with her free hand. She skimmed through the information on the device, trying to make sense of what she could with her limited scientific background. There were scan results, detailed breakdowns of radiation levels, and other large batches of data that meant little to her, but a log entry made by one of the scientists aboard the _Dauntless_ caught her eye:  
  
 _Three weeks after capturing the Federation vessel, we are still no closer to being ready to safely traverse the rift. As the Federation crew discovered during their fatal journey to our side, our shield technology does little to protect us from triolic radiation. Several logs from the Devidian Purge indicate shield frequencies that could allow for a successful voyage, but our first test with a Class Two probe nearly collapsed the rift entirely, forcing us to destroy the probe before it had crossed to the other side. I’ve attached the probe’s data to this log, but it seems our research has met with a dead end._  
  
Jessica opened the file that went with the log and skimmed it as well. She ignored the pages of telemetry and kept scrolling through until she found what she was looking for: the shield frequency that caused the rift to destabilize. _If we can fire our own probe with the same specifications, we could collapse the rift ourselves!_ She reviewed the notes intently until she was abruptly interrupted by the sound of the ship’s alarm.  
  
 _“Warning: Plasma leak in Main Engineering. Warp Core breach will occur in fifteen minutes.”_  
  
Jessica jumped to her feet. Things were going according to plan, but they didn’t have much time.  
  
“Bridge to engineering, what’s going on?” She knew there would be no answer, and waited only seconds before continuing. “Hail the other _Dauntless_. Get me Patterson.” She couldn’t make herself call the man Emperor, no matter the role she was playing. Seconds later the man’s face took up the entire viewscreen, and he was furious.  
  
“Barnes! What’s going on over there?”  
  
“I don’t know, sir,” she answered. “Engineering isn’t responding. It must be sabotage from the Federation. Sir, we have _Babel_ and this ship will never be fully battle-ready. Beam the crew back to your vessel and we’ll punish those responsible when we find them.”  
  
For one terrifying moment, Jessica thought the man would refuse, and make her responsible for the death of everyone aboard. Mercifully, he simply nodded. “Lower your shields. We’ll beam every human lifesign aboard.”  
  
“Thank you, sir,” she replied, her look of gratitude genuine.  
  
“Know this, Lieutenant,” Patterson said gravely. “This ship was lost under your command, and there _will_ be consequences.”  
  
One of the Terran officers must have lowered the shields even before they were finished speaking, as she watched shimmering blue fields envelop the rest of the crew before they vanished. Within seconds, everyone was gone. Everyone except for Jessica, who had modified her combadge along with Kevin and Shannon to block transporter signals. Now, they were the only ones on the ship.  
  
Jessica ran to the ship’s tactical controls. The Terrans were right, the ship _was_ in bad shape. Defensive systems were barely functioning, shields and propulsion were at less than half of standard operating power, and thanks to Shannon’s handiwork, the main reactor was fluctuating wildly, and would continue to do so until the warp core breach destroyed the ship. Thankfully, the ship’s probes were untouched and still functional, and it took her only seconds to key in the configuration saved in the science log on her PADD. She entered the target coordinates of the rift, floating undetected just a few hundred kilometers off the ship’s bow. She watched the flash of white light illuminate the bottom of the viewscreen, and the probe shot off into the black of space.  
  
 _There. It’s done._ With the probe on its way through the rift, Patterson and his _Dauntless_ crew would be forced to retreat to their own universe, or risk never being able to return. Meanwhile, this ship was set to explode in minutes, and after a quick interior scan for lifesigns, she’d be free to meet up with Shannon and Kevin in the transporter room. She ran the scan, skimming deck by deck for human lifesigns. The one on the bridge was her own signature, of course, and the pair of signals moving up from the reactor had to be her comrades. Then the report showed a single remaining lifesign, trapped behind the brig’s forcefield, and her heart lurched in her chest.  
  
“Computer, disable all security forcefields on Deck Seventeen.”  
  
 _“Unable to comply,”_ the computer replied. _“All control functions below Deck Thirteen are disabled due to engineering failure.”_  
  
“Shit.” _I should just leave her,_ Jessica thought as she rushed to the turbolift. _Just meet up with the others and get back to_ Babel. The door slid shut after her, and she clenched her fists in frustration.  
  
“Deck Seventeen. Brig.”


	23. Chapter 23

“If nothing else, that ought to distract them while we make our entrance,” Jeremy said, shutting the turbolift doors and sending the pod toward the bridge carrying only a stun grenade on a time delay. “If everyone, or even a majority of the people on the bridge, are facing the lift when we come out of the maintenance hatches, we ought to be able to take them by surprise and subdue any problem individuals.”  
  
“I doubt we’ll be that lucky,” Raj answered carefully. “But taking out even a few of them should give us all the advantage we need. Let’s hurry now, up the ladder before we lose the element of surprise.”  
  
Jeremy let the captain lead the way. Taking up the rear, his mind had a blissful moment to stray and reflect on the events of the evening. The time he’d spent pacing the length of his quarters, anxiously downing shots of synthehol seemed like ages ago. Whether it’d been the lingering effects of the replicated booze or the adrenaline, he’d assumed the role of stealth agent on his own ship, partnered with their captain. He’d slipped back into that old confidence with such ease, it was startling. _I haven’t felt this way in years. But it’s… good._ Remembering where his headstrong confidence had gotten him last time, with his former fiancée, was sobering. The more time he spent with Jess, the more he wished he could tap back into that confidence. _Maybe it’ll stick around._  
  
Raj held up a hand and the two men came to a halt, listening. They were within earshot of the bridge now, and if they’d timed it right, Jeremy’s turbolift surprise ought to be arriving any second. After a few moments in anticipatory silence, a single low thrum reverberated through the ship’s hull. The captain waited for several seconds after the grenade detonated, dropped his hand, waved Jeremy on, and moved forward toward the door.  
  
As the captain pushed the hatch open, the two men were met with an unexpected scene. The bridge was deserted, and the only sign of activity in the area was the blast marks on the wall near the turbolift from the stun grenade. Hastily, the captain and Jeremy clambered out of the Jefferies tube and began sweeping the area with their tricorders.  
  
“I’m picking up several quantum signatures all over the room, but they’re decaying quickly,” Jeremy announced, still pacing slowly around the bridge. “Wherever they went, they left fairly recently.” The geologist folded up his tricorder and rushed to the science station, where he began entering commands for a sensor sweep. The ship hummed and metrics flooded the screen in a scrolling cascade, but every one of them fell well within the standard parameters.  
  
“There’s no way they made an escape already,” Jeremy shouted, pushing back from the console in frustration. “There has to be more to it.” He began pacing the bridge, scratching at his short beard, and wearing a look of determination that was a stark juxtaposition to his singed and disheveled remains of a tuxedo. “Even a cloaked ship is detectable one way or another. Every cloaking device has a weak spot, whether its an unguarded harmonic or a distinct subspace distortion signature. _Something_ always gives them away…” He trailed off mid-thought and bolted back to the workstation. “...You just need to know where to look.”  
  
“The deflector array is the bottomless toolbox of every Starfleet ship. It can be configured to do almost anything, which means that, by default, it has to be preset to handle a variety of odd commands.” The words flowed out continuously, filling the silent bridge with a constant narrative rambling that came as quickly as his mouth could translate the thoughts. “One way to find cloaked ships is with a tachyon grid, but that requires several ships.” His fingers flew across the controls. “We only have one ship, but we also have a narrow field in which we have to search. If I send out a scanning field of tachyon pulses, it can produce a crude image of the surroundings, like, like,” he paused to snap his fingers, snagged on a thought. “Like sonar!” Jeremy paused his recitation for a moment to consider the potential value of a cetacean ops division in a time like this. _Not now._ He shook the thought away and entered the final key sequences to set the deflector array on its new mission.  
  
The computer began emitting a series of rapid chirps as a new river of data streamed up the side of the screen and a scanning image refreshed to its right. The visual produced by the scan was crude, to say the least, but it appeared to be working. Every two-second scan felt like an agonizing eternity, but after several passes, Jeremy noticed a distortion that seemed to be moving in a consistent direction.  
  
“Captain, I have something.”  
  
Raj’s presence was the only cue Jeremy needed. He pointed at the faint bow in the grid laid out by the deflector field. “That’s just the right size and speed to be a shuttle moving at full impulse. It _has_ to be her, but it’s going the wrong way. It’s... _fleeing_.” Before either of them had time to consider options, there was a faint flash out in the empty space to the forward starboard of the ship, and the matrix on the screen went still.  
  
“We lost her,” Jeremy said, wide-eyed with disbelief. “She jumped and we lost her.” He stammered for a moment before scrambling for the controls and beginning another sensor sweep to see if he could get a sense of her heading when Raj placed a hand on his shoulder.  
  
“Let her go,” the captain said. “We still have work to do here.”


	24. Chapter 24

The turbolift rattled throughout its descent to the second-lowest deck of the old ship. Jessica retraced her steps from their escape, running from one hallway to the next until she saw the door to the brig. She marched into the room, still struggling to find the words for what she was about to do. As if to emphasize her urgency, the ship’s computer continued to count down toward its impending demise.  
  
 _“Warning: Antimatter containment field collapse imminent. Warp core breach will occur in ten minutes.”_  
  
Sitting on the floor, her back to the force field, was their prisoner. The other woman who shared her name, her face, her identity. Still wearing Jessica’s Starfleet uniform, forced on her to complete the prisoner disguise, her head was held high in defiance, but Jessica could see the tears that ran down her face. Here she was, resigned to her own death, trying her best to look brave before her captor.  
  
“You came back,” her counterpart said.  
  
“I did,” Jessica answered.  
  
“Why?”  
  
Jessica hesitated. She wasn’t entirely sure of the answer herself, but deep down she knew it was the right thing to do. “If I didn’t,” she said, “you’d die.”  
  
The other Jessica turned to face her. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her jaw was clenched in anger. She was trembling. “That’s not enough for you? You needed to find some last way to punish me before leaving me here? Or did you just feel the need to do it yourself?”  
  
Jessica was taken aback. “What are you talking about? I’m here to let you go!”  
  
She moved toward the control panel, and the other woman jumped back against the wall, putting as much distance between the two of them as she could. As Jessica’s hand reached the control, the other woman held her arms in front of her, shielding her face.  
  
“Please,” she said. “Just leave me here.”  
  
“Leave you here? Are you insane? If I let you go, they’ll beam you back to your ship! You’ll be safe!”  
  
“I’ll be worse than dead if I go back!” the other woman screamed. “Don’t you know what it’s like for us? For me?”  
  
Jessica’s hand hovered over the panel. _Would it really be worse than death for her? I can’t believe that. There has to be a better way._ There wasn’t, though. She’d have only seconds after the field was down before the other _Dauntless_ would beam her back, no time at all to try the same trick Shannon had used to mask their own signals. She could either send the woman back or let her die.  
  
“Jessica,” she said, almost like talking to herself in a twisted, broken mirror. “If you die here, nothing ever gets better. Not just for you, but for the people you care about. You were right, earlier, about us. We’re the same. I was just born a little bit luckier than you were. But I know how much I care for my crew, and I know you feel the same way about yours. There’s still time for you to help them. Go back to your ship, and make things better.”  
  
“How?” the other woman asked. “We’re not _like_ you. We hurt each other. Kindness is a weakness we can’t afford.”  
  
“No,” Jessica said, shaking her head. “It’s a strength you haven’t been brave enough to show yet. And it’s what’s going to keep you alive.”  
  
They held each other’s gaze through the shimmering blue wall, and the other Jessica stepped forward. “I’m scared,” she said.  
  
“I know,” Jessica replied.  
  
“Do you really think I can do this?”  
  
Jessica exhaled, letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She keyed the forcefield release and threw her arms around the woman in a tight hug.  
  
“I know you can,” she said, and they held each other tight until the transporter beam took hold, and Jessica was left holding nothing but air. She blinked the tears from her eyes and looked back toward the doorway.  
  
 _“Warning: Warp core breach will occur in eight minutes.”_  
  
“Alright, I get your point,” she said, running out into the hallway. The ship was creaking loudly as automated systems diverted the leaking plasma flow into nonessential decks. Even without the threat of an antimatter explosion, the ship was starting to rip itself apart. She turned at the last intersection, the turbolift door in sight, when the wall to her right buckled. She threw a hand up just in time as an explosion ripped through the panels, slamming her into the far wall. Her whole arm burned, and the impact forced the air from her lungs.  
  
She rolled, relying on muscle memory and instinct to tuck her arms and legs in toward her chest as the ceiling collapsed on top of her. There was a sharp pain at the side of her head, and the world seemed to spin around her. Images bounced through her head: Shannon, telling her to meet her in the transporter room. Captain Beldon, back in Houston, threatening to arrest her. Jeremy, poking at an onion with his fork, asking her to the gala as his date. Her vision blurred more, and she reached out helplessly, trying to take his hand, but then he was spinning too, drifting away, and all she could see was darkness.


	25. Chapter 25

“Where the hell is she?” Shannon asked no one in particular. They’d watched as two patrolling crewmen had been beamed away just minutes earlier, which meant that Jessica had done her part. Getting from the bridge to the transporter room where they were now should have been simple.  
  
“Wherever she is,” Kevin answered, “she doesn’t have much time left. We have less than ten minutes before the ship explodes.”  
  
The young Terran officer certainly had a knack for stating the obvious. He paced the room nervously, fidgeting with the knife at his belt as the ship’s hull creaked and groaned. He stopped mid-stride, then reversed course and went for the transporter controls.  
  
“What are you doing?” Shannon asked, reaching for her phaser. If the man was going to betray them, he certainly picked an odd time for it.  
  
“Put that down,” he snapped, eyes still focused on the console. “I’m scanning the ship for lifesigns. There! She’s... at the brig? There are two human signatures down there.”  
  
Shannon’s eyes widened. _Of course. The other Jessica we left in the brig. She couldn’t get beamed out with the containment field up. Whatever you’re doing, Jess, do it quickly._  
  
“One of them just vanished,” Kevin continued. “The one that’s left, yours I assume, is headed to the turbolift now. Wait... oh no.”  
  
“What happened?” Shannon asked impatiently.  
  
“I don’t know,” he said frantically. “But she’s not moving, and I’m reading fires all over the deck. There’s no time to go back for her, we have to go.”  
  
“Absolutely not,” Shannon snapped back. “Stay here if you want, but I’m going back for her.”  
  
Shannon made her way to the turbolift as quickly as they could, with Kevin right behind her, beginning their descent seven decks below. Shannon gave the command as soon as the door closed, and the pod took off, the usual smooth hum of its departure replaced with an awful scraping noise.  
  
“What made you go back?” Kevin asked. The look on his face was conflicted, wavering between anxiety, regret, and determination.  
  
“It wasn’t a choice,” Shannon replied. “It was the right thing to do. Jess is part of my crew, and I’m not leaving her behind.”  
  
“You’d really do that for anyone?” he asked, still incredulous.  
  
“Wouldn’t you?” she asked in return. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then crossed his arms and looked sheepishly down at the floor. The lift, still grinding against the shaft, came to a halt on Deck Seventeen, and the door slid open to reveal a scene out of a disaster holonovel or one of the more intense Starfleet training sims. Just meters away from the turbolift, fires raged around a pile of debris that went as high as the ceiling. On closer inspection, Shannon could see that part of the ceiling itself had collapsed after the wall on her left side had given way to an explosion, likely the same one that had started the fire.  
  
“We have to find a way around this,” she said, already removing the panel that covered one of the maintenance tubes that ran throughout the deck.  
  
“No,” Kevin answered hesitantly. He pointed a shaky finger toward the rubble. “We have to get in there.”  
  
Shannon turned, peering into the fire, and stifled a gasp of horror. Underneath a fallen chunk of the ceiling, she could just make out the top of a woman’s head, her black hair matted with blood. She moved closer, searching frantically for a way through the flames, but the smell of burning carpet was overpowering, and she staggered backward, coughing violently.  
  
Throwing a sleeve over her nose and mouth, Shannon squinted into the wreckage. “How are we going to get to her? I don’t know if one of us can lift that fallen bulkhead alone.”  
  
“We’ll lift it together,” Kevin said, pulling the high collar of his uniform up over his nose before charging into the smoke. Shannon followed suit.  
  
They each took hold of opposite ends of the fallen ceiling panel, exchanged a synchronized glance, and lifted on the third nod between them. Even with the two of them lifting in unison, hoisting the displaced panel was a struggle.  
  
“Okay,” Shannon panted, still trying to lift the panel just a couple of centimeters higher. “That should be enough room to get her out…” She huffed again, her arms aching and her lungs burning. “But there’s no way you can hold this.”  
  
Kevin shifted his grip on the frame and eased his body underneath it so that the weight rested on his palms and shoulders. He nodded at her. “Go, I can hold it. Just get her out.”  
  
The redhead shot a panicked glance between Jessica and Kevin, hesitant.  
  
“I said go!” the young man shouted.  
  
Shannon let go of her end of the panel and saw Kevin wince as the full weight of it bore down on his shoulders. Knowing there wasn’t a second to waste, Shannon got down on her hands and knees and reached for Jessica’s shoulders. The buckling of the ship’s interior had opened a nasty gash along her skull, and one of her shoulders had been dislocated. _Any damage I do getting her out of here is still better than what would happen if I didn’t_. She grasped the other woman’s torso, doing what she could to mind the injured arm, and heaved. One of her legs caught on another small piece of debris and Jessica gasped to life and immediately launched into a fit of spasmodic coughing.  
  
“ _QI'yaH!_ ” the injured woman spat between coughs. “My leg is stuck, damn it!” Jessica coughed again. “I think I can get it out, just,” more coughs interrupted her, “just give me a second.”  
  
“Do you have her?” Kevin asked. The strain in his voice was evident.  
  
Jessica froze. “Kevin?”  
  
“Just get your damn leg out before this whole ship implodes on itself,” Shannon snapped. “We don’t have time for happy reunions.”  
  
“Okay, go,” Jessica grunted, wincing as Shannon started hauling her backward again. Just as Jessica’s feet cleared the pile of debris, one of the wall panels burst, sending a jet of plasma barreling into Kevin’s center of mass. He buckled under the weight of the ceiling and fell to the floor, pinned under the pile of debris.  
  
“No!” Jessica screamed, reaching out helplessly with her good arm. “We have to get him out!”  
  
“No, you need to go!” he coughed. “Both of you.”  
  
“Kevin, I won’t lose you again. I can’t.”  
  
“You have to.” Kevin wheezed as the debris piled on top of him groaned and shifted. “Jessica, look at me. I’m not the same person you lost once before, but I’m honored that you think of him so fondly. Get out of here, and let me die in peace.”  
  
The two of them shared a private look that left Shannon feeling like she was in a different world. The _Dauntless_ groaned again, and a loud bang shook the floor. “Jess, we need to go, _now_.”  
  
 _“Warning: Warp core breach will occur in three minutes.”_  
  
Kevin gave a weak wave as Shannon heaved Jessica to her feet and slung the woman’s good arm over her shoulders. The air was thick with smoke and fumes as she dragged her toward the turbolift. The chamber doors opened and the air inside was a welcome sanctuary. She coughed out a lungful of toxic air and grunted, her voice hoarse: “Deck Ten.” The doors closed, but the lift didn’t budge. “Computer, Deck Ten.” Still nothing. Shannon swore and turned to Jessica, whose expression said everything Shannon felt. _This is it._  
  
Shannon eased Jessica to the floor of the sealed turbolift and sat down beside her. “We’ve still got a few minutes,” she offered encouragingly. “Maybe it’s just taking a little longer to get commands through.”  
  
Jessica smirked and coughed up a feeble laugh. “Even when we’re staring death right in the face, you somehow find a way to be positive.”  
  
“Someone has to be. If I’m wrong, at least I die hopeful. If I’m right, well, we may yet have a chance to get off this ancient death trap.” Shannon sighed and leaned her head back against the worn fabric paneling on the wall. “Sometimes, I wish I could be angrier. I’ve seen how you act in a tough spot. You’re unstoppable.”  
  
“And for every time my rash decision-making saved my skin, there’s a time where it got me in trouble.” Jessica stared blankly at the floor. “I suppose you only get lucky so many times,” she sighed. “I made it out the last time I ended up underneath a cave-in that should have killed me.” Jess looked up at Shannon as if she had something more to say, but instead, she averted her eyes and resumed staring at the floor.  
  
“Tell me one thing,” Shannon said as she leaned forward, trying to get Jess to look at her again. She waited, and the dark-haired woman turned her face upward again. “What makes you happiest?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“What makes you happiest? Above all things, what never fails to bring you joy when you think about it?”  
  
The woman looked away. “It’s stupid.”  
  
“Doubt it.”  
  
Jessica inhaled sharply and sighed. “Knowing there’s someone waiting for me, someone who genuinely cares about me, despite the monster I’ve been.” She sniffled and coughed, still avoiding eye contact. “It’s not something I’ve had the luxury of for most of my life. It’s… nice.”  
  
Shannon smiled even though her friend wasn’t looking. “You deserve it.”  
  
 _“Warning: Warp core breach will occur in one minute.”_  
  
The countdown’s slow march was like a vise tightening inside her. Shannon took a slow, deep breath, coughing halfway through, and her mind wandered to her brother, Liam, lying in his hospital bed back on Earth. He lived through her. Every weekly call or personal report she sent him detailing where they’d been and what she’d seen was another page in his life story, lived through her eyes. Without her, he’d be left with only his four sterile walls. Shannon rocked her head back as a tear rolled down her cheek. _I’m sorry._


	26. Chapter 26

“Lieutenant, what’s our status?” Raj stood at the center of the bridge, hands clasped behind his back, projecting an air of confidence and authority. He was outnumbered and his ship was at least partially disabled, but the Terrans had simply held their position. The only activity from either vessel had been minutes earlier when the Federation _Dauntless_ had launched a probe to an empty region of space behind the other ship. Something was wrong, and he was going to find out what it was.  
  
“Shield emitters are online,” Jeremy responded, “but only at twenty percent capacity. Weapons systems are operational and we have maneuvering thrusters, but no warp or impulse power.”  
  
Raj grimaced. If he only had a single ship to face, that might be enough to get by. Against two ships, even as old as the Excelsior-class was, _Babel_ simply wasn’t in a position to last long.  
  
“Captain, something’s happening on one of the ships,” Jeremy added, staring intently at the sensor display. “Their shields are down, and I’m detecting major fluctuations in their warp signature. I think they’re about to have a core breach!”  
  
“Shannon, you never fail to surprise me,” Raj muttered. He turned back to his science officer and began to issue commands. “How many people are on that ship?”  
  
Jeremy’s hands were a blur on the console, and he frowned. “Three, sir, but there’s something distorted about their signal like they were trying to mask it. Everyone else seems to have beamed aboard the other ship.”  
  
 _Three? I wonder who the third is. No, there’s no time._ “Can you beam them back here?”  
  
“Working on it, Captain, but the interference is keeping me from getting a lock. With their outdated sensors, the other ship probably doesn’t even know they’re on board. You think it’s Jess? I mean, our people?”  
  
“I’m counting on it,” Raj answered. “If they triggered the core breach, then they might also have launched the probe. Can you see what it’s doing?”  
  
“I can try,” Jeremy answered, a bead of sweat running down his face. For what seemed like an eternity, the bridge waited in silence. When the Lieutenant told him what he’d found, the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place.  
  
“Sir, it’s... some sort of rift in space, masked by triolic energy. And since the probe went through, it’s been shrinking.”  
  
“Go to red alert. Raise shields and power weapons, then hail the lead ship. Then focus on getting our people back.”  
  
 _Babel_ ’s alarm klaxon sounded, and the lights on the bridge shifted to a glowing red. The security team settled into the empty bridge stations, and a sense of grim finality loomed over the room. The viewscreen shifted, and an angry Elias Patterson turned to face him, already shouting.  
  
“O’Malley, what’s taking you- wait, where is she? Who are you?”  
  
“I’m afraid your Commander O’Malley won’t be joining us, Eli. I’m Captain Raj Murali, of the Federation starship _Babel_ , and this is your one and only opportunity to surrender.”  
  
As if on cue, the _USS Dauntless_ , finally discovered after so many years, exploded in a brilliant flash of energy. Raj turned his head just enough to lock eyes with Lieutenant Caldwell, wordlessly asking the only question that mattered. _Did you get them?_ The younger man’s face was grim, and he held up two fingers shakily. He burned to know who the mysterious third party was that had been with them, and wondered solemnly if he would be meeting them at the cost of one of the most capable and loyal officers he’d served with. Until he dealt with Patterson, though, there was nothing he could do either way.  
  
“If you think I’m going to be threatened by you and your crippled starship when there’s an Empire at stake,” Patterson said through gritted teeth, “then you will be disappointed.”  
  
“They’ve locked weapons on us, Captain,” reported Ensign Meeko at the tactical station. Raj merely raised an eyebrow at the man on the viewscreen.  
  
“You _could_ kill us,” he said coolly. “You’d likely die in the effort, though. These newer Starfleet ships can pack quite the punch. Fortunately, I don’t think it’ll come to that. You and I both know that the gateway to your world is closing, and even if you could take my ship, you’d never get it to the other side in time. Go back to where you belong.”  
  
The ship’s alarm continued to sound, the only thing breaking the tense silence on both ships. Seconds passed, and Raj ran himself through every maneuver he could think of in his ship’s condition. Then, finally, Patterson gave his reply.  
  
“This isn’t over, Murali. We’ll be back.”  
  
The channel closed, and Raj watched as the lanky frame of the _Dauntless_ , the Terran vessel of the same make and name of the ship he’d spent the last six months searching for, retreated back into the shrinking rift. One moment it was there, and then it vanished into the black, leaving nothing in its wake.  
  
“No,” Raj said quietly. “You won’t.”


	27. Chapter 27

Renetta straightened the collar of her dress uniform as she looked at herself in the mirror. Somehow, the idea of wearing Starfleet Formal instead of a party dress felt more fitting for the occasion, even though it was going to be the same party, minus the attempted takeover. _The longer I’m here, the more I’m beginning to understand why my parents wanted me to stay on Earth and work in the solar industry._ The young woman sighed and met her own gaze in the mirror. It had been a week since the attack on _Babel_ and more than a month since the events of Makapo IV. Still, she felt tired and looked exhausted. _I suppose it’s not too late to leave… but I don’t know if I could ever forgive myself for turning away from what I love, even if it does put me in danger on a regular basis._ The blue and black lines of her uniform, trimmed in gold and defined by the single gold pip on her collar stared back at her. _This is my home now. For better or for worse. I like to think it’s more of the former than the latter._  
  
The door chime tugged Renetta out of her reverie and back to reality. She crossed the room, the hard heels of her dress boots making a distinctive muted tap against the thin carpeting with every step. The door opened to reveal Koltak waiting patiently in the hall outside. They turned, and their expression softened, one corner of their mouth upturning in the smallest of smiles.  
  
“Are you ready to go?” the Gliesian asked. “Thriss should already be waiting for us.”  
  
Renetta sighed as she stepped out into the hall. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”  
  
“You look troubled,” Koltak noted, taking awkwardly short strides to keep pace with the tiny dark-haired woman.  
  
“I’ve just been thinking, that’s all.”  
  
“About?”  
  
“I don’t know, everything?” Renetta paused and looked up at Koltak. “Do you ever get homesick?”  
  
The technicolor alien gave a lazy shrug. “I suppose I do on occasion, though probably not for the same reasons you do. I miss some of the sights of home, but I have holodeck programs for that. The people are… less easily missed.”  
  
“I guess that makes sense. We left home for different reasons.”  
  
“You still haven’t told me what you were thinking about.”  
  
The two stopped in front of the turbolift and the doors parted, allowing them entry. Renetta gave the order for Deck Eleven, and the lift hummed into motion.  
  
“I’m just wondering if I really belong here or not,” she admitted, leaning back against the wall and staring down her torso toward her boots. “I look at my face and I look so tired and drained of spirit, but I look at my uniform and I wonder how I ever questioned belonging in the first place. Starfleet is where I always wanted to be, working out the puzzles of the cosmos and exploring the stars. I just feel… empty.” A piece of hair fell down from the bun that had taken her nearly an hour to shape. She watched it swing, twisting in the air as her messy curls kinked their way back into the straightened lock.  
  
Koltak’s boots stepped into view in front of her own, and the towering Gliesian crouched down to meet Renetta’s downcast gaze. The woman looked up.  
  
“I know how you feel, wondering if you belong,” they said quietly. Their icy blue eyes were soft and sad. “I felt out of place wherever I went. Everyone stared at me when they thought I wasn’t looking. And then there was you.” Koltak reached out a multicolored hand and gently tucked the stray piece of hair back behind her ear. “You didn’t care how different I may have been. You welcomed me in. Out of everyone on this ship, you made this place feel like a home. Without you, _Babel_ wouldn’t be the same.”  
  
The turbolift came to a halt. Before the doors opened, Renetta stepped forward and threw her arms around Koltak’s shoulders. There were so many things she wanted to say in response, but all the words piled up in a jumbled mess at the front of her mind. The doors opened, and Renetta released her friend from the embrace. She smiled as Koltak stood back up, brushing off their knees as they ducked out into the corridor.  
  
“I wonder if Commander O’Malley had to redo the plans for the gala in the wake of everything,” Renetta pondered aloud as they walked toward the banquet hall. “It wouldn’t surprise me, and it might explain the change in dress code.” She had both of her arms wrapped around one of Koltak’s, not wanting to let go of the connection they’d formed on the way over.  
  
As the pair rounded the curve of the corridor, Thriss came into view, leaning up against the wall in a fresh replica of her magenta dress, idly picking at something under one of her fingernails.  
  
“Where’s your uniform?” Koltak asked before Renetta had the chance.  
  
The Andorian woman stood up straight and raised an eyebrow at the two of them. “Where are your party digs?”  
  
“We were told to wear dress uniforms.”  
  
Thriss shrugged and stepped into line beside Renetta. “Whatever the case, you both look nice, if not a little monochromatic,” she said, smirking at Koltak, who had recently picked up the response of rolling their eyes.  
  
The trio entered the banquet hall and found that most of the party guests were in non-Starfleet formalwear, with very few exceptions.  
  
Seated at the bar in the center of the room, Renetta noticed Chief Engineer Naazt, dressed in an elegant deep gold suit. He had a drink in one hand and his attention wholly focused on his conversation with another Tellarite at the bar. As Naazt’s conversation partner turned to flag down the bartender, Renetta noticed that his beard hung down to his chest in smooth waves, a stark comparison to Naazt’s distinctively short and tightly-curled hair.  
  
 _I didn’t know we had other Tellarites on_ Babel. _I suppose it makes sense, seeing as they’re founding members of the Federation_. Renetta shrugged to herself and continued looking around the room, lingering on the thought. _They seem like very private individuals._  
  
Next, her eyes settled on a huddle of familiar faces, gathered near a table beside the large tree, which had managed to survive the events of the week prior with minimal damage. Renetta tugged on the sleeves of her friends. “Commander O’Malley and Jeremy are in uniform, too,” she said as Koltak and Thriss crouched down to hear.  
  
“Barnes stole my dress,” Thriss said in mock offense as she noted _Babel_ ’s Chief of Security’s very similar choice of clothing.  
  
“Hers is much closer to scarlet,” Koltak pointed out.  
  
“And it’s longer,” Renetta added.  
  
It was Thriss’s turn to roll her eyes. “You two are no fun. Look at them, though. You think she and Caldwell are a thing?”  
  
Renetta noticed the way the two of them stood, arm-in-arm, and she smiled. “They certainly seem happy enough with one another’s company.” A pang of longing drilled through her stomach.  
  
“Is that Doctor Dupont?” Koltak asked in disbelief. The amount of shock in their statement tore Renetta’s thoughts back to the ballroom. Sure enough, the Doctor stood beside the towering tree talking to her assistant, Ensign Dansville. She wore an elegant, cream-colored, floor-length gown that looked like something out of a painting. Renetta shared in Koltak’s shock.  
  
“I didn’t think she owned anything besides lab coats.”  
  
The three stared a while longer before Thriss pulled toward the food. “We’re going to get kicked out for gawking if we don’t move along,” she said. “Let’s get something to eat and grab a table.”  
  
As it had been for the first run of the Winter Gala, the tables were filled with foods from cultures across the Federation. Delicacies from land, sea, and air stretched across the buffet. Renetta eagerly helped herself to a small serving of as many interesting things as her plate would allow, taking care to leave room for at least a couple of desserts. They picked out a table near the podium, close enough to see out the windows and follow whatever events were in store for the evening, but still far enough away to have a hushed conversation among themselves.  
  
They had just begun to enjoy their meals when Captain Murali stepped into view and headed up toward the podium, also wearing his dress uniform. The conversations throughout the large room trickled down to a murmur, then stopped altogether with a simple gesture of his hand. The older man ran his fingers through his greying beard as if searching for the right words to address the crew. Then he let his hands fall to his side and began to speak.  
  
“I know the last week has been hard for all of us,” he started. “Six months ago, you all set out from the Utopia Planitia shipyards on a mission of peaceful exploration, but that mission was a lie. As we discovered a week ago, we were meant to be pawns in a scheme driven by a Starfleet admiral intent on building an empire, using our ship and the technology within in a personal quest for power.”  
  
Renetta looked around the banquet hall at the sea of solemn faces. Most, like her, had been corralled by strange men and women at phaserpoint and held hostage with no idea what was going to happen. Others, like Lieutenant Caldwell, had worked with the captain to liberate the ship, coming to their rescue just in time to save their lives. She shared a look with Koltak, remembering all too vividly how close she’d come to losing a dear friend.  
  
“This ship,” the captain continued, “is one of the most advanced vessels in the fleet, carrying state of the art technology meant to help us in our mission to explore uncharted space. But however powerful it is, our technology is not our greatest asset. Our attackers took the ship and shut down our defenses, but they underestimated the strength, the resilience, and the resolve of this crew. In a time of crisis, each and every one of you proved that you can be counted among the best and brightest that Starfleet has to offer, and you came together when we needed you most. When I needed you most. Six months ago, I would not have believed even half of what you’ve proven to be capable of, but I know now that there is no challenge that this crew cannot overcome. That’s why Commander O’Malley and I would like to take this opportunity not only to recognize those who stepped up a week ago, but some of you who have gone above and beyond since the day our mission started. Would crewman Koltak Rygelix, Ensign Renetta Benson, and Lieutenant Jeremy Caldwell step forward, please?”  
  
Renetta glanced first to Koltak and then to Thriss, shocked to have been addressed. Her feet felt glued to the spot. Thriss raised her eyebrows and gestured with a pointed look toward the podium. Renetta tried to make herself move, but her legs wouldn’t budge. Before the pause could draw out any further, Koltak took her by the arm and gently pulled the young woman forward. Desperately avoiding the sensation of a thousand eyes on her, Renetta followed Koltak up to the illuminated area beside the captain, where Jeremy was already standing. She took her place beside the other two, and Commander O’Malley came out from behind the podium to face them.  
  
“Sorry for the sudden change in dress code,” she whispered with a small smile, before straightening in front of Koltak.  
  
“Crewman Rygelix, for the completion of the Starfleet Officer Training program, and for your many acts of bravery, compassion, and ingenuity over the past six months, I am honored to promote you to the rank of Ensign.” She stepped forward, straining slightly to reach the enormous Gliesian’s collar, and removed the rectangular black pip that marked them as a member of the enlisted personnel, replacing it with the same gold officer’s pip that Renetta wore. She smiled, whispering something to the newly promoted Ensign that prompted a smile of their own, then stepped back to the roar of applause from the rest of the crew.  
  
“Ensign Benson,” the tall redhead continued, moving to face Renetta, whose heart was racing so fast she thought it might burst from her chest. “For your several contributions to the advancement of the Federation’s understanding of advanced quantum theory and your ability to tackle any challenge the frontier of space has to offer, I’m pleased to promote you to the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade.” Shannon stepped forward, pinning a black pip on her collar with a grin. She leaned forward and said in a hushed, playful tone that only the two of them could hear: “In my opinion, two years of being called ‘Ensign Benson’ was punishment enough. Congratulations, Renetta, and good luck with your new responsibility.”  
  
As Commander O’Malley finished affixing the new pip and stepped back, Renetta’s anxiety from standing in front of a large crowd mixed with a fresh sensation of guilt. She was standing before a packed room receiving commendations for, what she felt, had been six months of just doing her job. There had been some quick thinking involved, but there had hardly been anything of serious note, as far as she was concerned. Meanwhile, she felt that other members of the crew had been far more inventive and resourceful on a regular basis. _And then there’s David, whose opportunities for promotion might as well be over because of what happened to him_. She chewed the corner of her mouth to hide a frown. She could believe that she belonged here in Starfleet, on _Babel_ , but the promotion felt undeserved. _“Good luck with your new responsibility.” I feel like luck is the only thing that got me through some of my last responsibilities._  
  
“And finally, Lieutenant Caldwell,” the First Officer said, stepping over to Jeremy. “For your excellence in innovation, teamwork, and leadership, as well as your significant achievements in _Babel_ ’s efforts to expand our knowledge of frontier space, I’m thrilled to raise you to the rank of full Lieutenant and the role of Chief Science Officer aboard this ship. From now on, the Science division will report directly to you.” She removed the black pip from his collar that marked him as a junior Lieutenant, replacing it with a second gold pip. She whispered something in his ear as she was done that made his face turn bright red as he glanced over at Lieutenant Barnes. She laughed openly, obviously in on the joke, and Jeremy looked like he wanted suddenly to be anywhere but at the front of the room.  
  
The crowd cheered, caught up in the celebration of their comrades’ achievements and the relief at being finally able to relax after a stressful, difficult past month. Shannon turned, about to give the catering crew the signal to begin the festivities in earnest, when Captain Murali cleared his throat, quickly getting the attention of the attendees.  
  
“Very well said, and equally well deserved. There is, however, one last recognition I’d like to make before I let you enjoy this incredibly-planned evening. In my many long years of service, I’ve often observed that the key to a successful ship is in its crew, and just as the well-being of the mission is the responsibility of the captain, the well-being of the crew falls to its executive officer. Balancing the crew’s needs, desires, and productivity is one of the greatest challenges in Starfleet, even when that officer has the complete trust and support of her captain. When the nature of the ship’s mission breaks that trust, the task can be impossible. Lieutenant Commander O’Malley, it is my deepest regret that my suspicion surrounding the nature of our mission kept me from recognizing the extent to which you carried this crew through its greatest struggles, going above and beyond the expectations of your role and your rank. It is my distinct honor and privilege to recognize those talents now and to raise you to the full rank of Commander. Let there be no doubt among this crew or any other that you represent the very best among us, and that this crew will follow your lead wherever it may take us.”


	28. Chapter 28

_Thank god that’s over_ , Renetta thought as she crammed a fifth small cake onto her already overloaded plate. She knew that addressing large crowds was something that made her uncomfortable, but she hadn’t been forced to confront that particular anxiety since graduation day at the Academy. Add in the new sense of unworthiness that came with the fresh promotion, and the pip on her collar might as well have been made of lead for how acutely aware of it she’d become. _I should be happy, but I just feel guilty… and kind of nauseous._

Carefully maneuvering through the bustling crowd with her towering plate of desserts, Renetta made her way to the bar. She wasn’t much of a drinker, but if nothing else, it might help her forget a bit of the uneasiness.

“What’ll it be?” asked the dark-skinned bartender with a genuine smile. His grey eyes held a youthful sparkle that matched the greyish tint to his skin. “Something to help you loosen up a bit, perhaps?” He spoke with an accent Renetta couldn’t quite place, and it distracted her just enough that she didn’t notice the unprompted aptness of his suggestion.

“Please, maybe something easy on the stomach, too.”

“Won’t be but a minute,” he said, turning his back to her as he reached beneath the bar and produced a pair of bottles. She watched, unfocused, as he poured, mixed, shook, and poured again whatever it was that she’d just ordered. He slid her a tall, narrow glass full of a golden beverage that bubbled ever so slightly. “Let me know what you think of that one. It’s something new I’ve been trying.”

Renetta took the glass and smelled it. Whatever it was, it smelled sweet and slightly herbal. She tasted it, and though the flavor was unfamiliar, it was earthy, pleasant, and just sweet enough. She nodded to the bartender and he smiled, dismissing her politely as another guest arrived at the bar.

By the time she’d made it back to the table, her glass was half empty. Renetta set the plate of desserts down at her spot and looked up to meet a pointed look from Thriss.

“I can’t tell, are you celebrating or panicking?” the Andorian woman asked, reaching for a bun at the edge of the plate.

“Both, and I never said I was sharing.”

Thriss shrugged and took a bite of the roll. “You never said you weren’t either. Besides, we all know that if you tried to eat everything on that plate, you’d regret it in about an hour.”

“The alcohol won’t help,” Koltak added, also taking a dessert off of the well-stocked plate.

“How would you know?” Renetta retorted huffily as she dropped into her chair. “You don’t even drink.”

“Observation,” the Gliesian said, taking a bite of the fruit tart they’d picked up.

“What do you have to panic about anyway?” Thriss asked genuinely, finishing the small cake. “You survived the promotion line -- congratulations again, by the way -- and you’re back in the safety of the unidentifiable masses.”

“I don’t feel like I’ve done anything to earn it.”

“Have you seen the productivity reports?” Koltak asked. “You and I lead the entire science team in tasks completed, and you have been running experiments on how to improve warp efficiency for the past two months. Your file is full of notes.”

Thriss and Renetta both paused and stared at the Gliesian.

“Aren’t those files visible to senior staff only?” Thriss asked, reaching for another pastry without looking.

“...Possibly,” Koltak evaded. Thriss raised an eyebrow. “I don’t _try_ to read over people’s shoulders.”

Renetta cracked a smile, and the anxiety surrounding her started to melt away. Of everyone she knew, Koltak had come the farthest in the past half-year. Six months ago, she never would have expected so much personality and witty conversation from them. As Thriss chided Koltak about their new “reprehensible” habits, Renetta allowed herself a moment to enjoy one of the several desserts she’d lifted from the buffet. She’d never expected to eat all of them herself, but the stubborn part of her brain insisted that she would, out of a mix of guilt and penance if nothing else. Instead, she savored the sweet, citrus icing that coated the herbed bun in her hand. _Maybe Thriss is right. Maybe I’m overthinking things._

“Well, would you look who it is,” Thriss spoke up cheerfully. Renetta looked up from her plate and choked on her last bite of cake as she saw David unsteadily making his way toward their table.

“It’s good to see you,” Koltak said welcomingly, though their tone betrayed their underlying uncertainty about the situation.

“Thanks,” David said quietly, glancing between Thriss and Koltak, noticeably avoiding making eye contact with Renetta. “Do you mind--” he faltered, “could I sit with you?”

“Of course,” Thriss said, leaning over and pulling out a chair for him. An awkward silence settled over the table until the Andorian woman slid the plate of sweets in his direction. “Here, help yourself. Renetta got a little overeager.”

He looked up and met her gaze from across the table, his sole brown eye meeting hers over the plate of desserts. “Sounds about right,” he said with a sad smile. “Congratulations on your promotion, by the way.”

Renetta looked down at where her hand rested on the table. “Thanks,” she said quietly. _It should have been yours._

Silence consumed the table again. This time, David interrupted it with a long, deep breath. “Look, I… I wanted to start with an apology,” he said, addressing everyone at the table. “I’ve been kind of terrible in every respect since… since everything happened, and I’m sorry.”

“David, I don’t think any of us hold that against you,” Thriss said, reaching out and placing a slender blue hand over his. “What you’ve been through is unfathomable. None of us can blame you for being out of sorts.”

“Still, it wasn’t fair to any of you,” he paused, “some, more than others.” Renetta could feel him looking at her, but she couldn’t bring herself to look back.

“Fairness doesn’t seem like a terribly appropriate metric for these kinds of situations,” Koltak offered.

“Even if it isn’t, I owe you all more of an apology than I can possibly give, but if it isn’t too much to ask on top of everything, I’d like to try being friends again, that is, if you’ll have me.”

Thriss and Koltak tripped over one another with affirmations and enthusiastic invitations. Renetta downed the last of her drink and muttered, “sure,” before excusing herself from the table and heading back to the bar.

There was a vacant seat at the counter that might as well have had her name on it. The two individuals on either side were engaged in conversations with other people, leaving her peacefully alone. The bartender turned to her with another golden drink in hand.

“I presume you’d like the same thing as before?”

Renetta nodded. He set it down quietly in front of her, glanced over her shoulder, and turned away with a warm smile.

She reached for the glass to take a sip and winced as she heard a voice behind her.

“Renetta,” David said, sounding slightly out of breath. “I- You’re the one I need to apologize to the most.”

She wouldn’t look at him. She couldn’t. Not as she felt the tears welling in her eyes and the hot lump in her throat.

“I understand if you don’t want to talk to me. I don’t blame you. I just hope that it doesn’t stay like that forever.” He waited, but she didn’t turn around. He sighed defeatedly. “I’m sorry. Saying it feels stupidly inadequate, but I am so, so sorry. I’ll leave you be. Just… Don’t eat too many sweets. I know you-” he inhaled sharply and sighed again. “Take care of yourself, okay? I’ll see you around.”

Renetta stared fixedly ahead at the edge of the bartop as one tear, then a second rolled down her cheeks from her unblinking eyes. Her mind was racing with too many thoughts to control, some of them angry, most of them sad, all of them directed at her. When she turned around, David was gone, and the party had faded in her vision to a loud room full of too many colors and too many sounds. She slid down from the barstool and made her way to the exit. _They’ll piece it together,_ she thought as she stepped out into the solace of the corridor, her ears ringing.

Her thoughts echoed cacophonously off of the walls of the turbolift as it carried her back to her deck. Her quarters were cold and empty, full of the memories her thoughts insisted on imposing over the space. She stepped out of her boots and left them strewn on the floor as she loosened her collar, removing the new pip and setting it on the small table by her couch. She pulled the blanket off the back of the tiny sofa and curled up on the cushions, the thought of retreating to her own bed too much of a callback to everything her life was before it went wrong. Renetta closed her eyes and choked out a sob.

The sound of her door chime pulled her abruptly out of a nightmare. The room was dark and her blanket was on the floor. She didn’t want to get up. Her head hurt, her stomach felt like it was tied in several knots, and her throat was sore from crying. The chime sounded again.

“What,” she croaked, more a demand than a query.

It was enough of an invitation for the door, which parted to reveal a familiar, tall silhouette with cropped hair and a pair of antennae. “You disappeared. I wanted to make sure you got back here in one piece.”

Renetta glanced at a tiny clock on the table near the door. “It’s been like two hours.”

“I figured you wanted space,” Thriss said, stepping inside so the door could close. “Was I wrong?”

“No,” Renetta mumbled.

“Well, you’ve had your time to be miserable in solitude. Computer, lights up.” The room brightened, and Renetta winced and moaned. Thriss walked over to the replicator and ordered a hot cup of mint tea. “Sit up. We’re going to talk this through like adults.” She handed the cup to Renetta.

“Why do you care so much?” she asked, accepting the clear cup of steaming liquid.

“Because you’re worth caring about. Scoot over.” Thriss nudged Renetta aside to make room for two on the couch. “Is this about the promotion or about David?”

Renetta didn’t answer at first. “Both, I guess.”

Thriss sighed. “I don’t know how I can convince you that you’re worthy of that promotion,” she said, picking up the abandoned pip from the table, “but no amount of removing your rank symbols is going to change things. You _always_ rise to the occasion. That’s why you got this promotion in the first place. No amount of self-loathing is going to change your instincts, but enough of it _will_ get you a demotion. I know you won’t let it come to that, which brings us to our next subject.”

“I don’t want to talk about David.”

“Too bad. Not talking about your problems is the best way to be consumed by them.” Thriss placed a hand on Renetta’s shoulder and softened her tone. “He’s trying.”

“I know he is.”

“Does it bother you?”

Renetta turned and looked at Thriss, annoyed. “What, that he’s trying?”

“That he apologized, or that you think he wants to pick up where you two left off?”

“We _can’t_ pick up where we left off.”

“Did he ask you for that?”

Renetta didn’t answer.

“He knows there’s no mending that wound. At least not right now.” Thriss picked the blanket up off the floor and draped it over Renetta’s shoulders. “He’s trying to take baby steps to get himself back in working order, just like you’re taking what steps you can to keep moving forward.”

“Everything about this just feels backward,” Renetta lamented, settling back against the couch as she pulled the edges of the blanket closer around her. “I got promoted, but he’s the one who suffered the most and is trying the hardest to move forward. He’s stronger than I ever could be, and it’s not fair that I got the extra pip.”

Thriss didn’t respond right away. Instead, she filled the silence by untangling Renetta’s dilapidated bun from the pins that tried so hard to hold it in place. “You can’t compare two people’s struggles like that,” she said softly. “If both of us got shot in the arm, it would hurt you more than it would hurt me. If someone shot me in the antenna and you in the ear, it would be a different story.” Piece by piece, Renetta felt her hair fall freely to her shoulders. “What David went through was horrible, but you were right there with him. Anyone can see his scars, but those who know you well can see yours just as easily. Nevertheless, you persist.” Another lock of hair tumbled downward, liberated. “You may be too overwhelmed by everything that’s happened to see just how much you’re hurting, but no one blames you for it the way you blame yourself.”

The last of her hair unfurled from the confines of the hairpins as Thriss set the handful of bent metal down on the table. Renetta pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned against her friend. “All of my thoughts feel like they’re screaming at me, trying to get my attention. Whenever I’m not working or sleeping, it’s all I hear.”

“Have you talked to Doctor Dupont about it?”

She shrugged, pulling the blanket closer around her again.

“It might not be a bad idea.” Thriss pulled her close. “I need you to promise me something, going forward.”

“What?”

“Embrace that promotion, both on and off duty.”

Renetta looked up at her friend, her brows furrowed in confusion. “What?”

“Work hard like we all know you will -- because that’s what you do -- but work hard on taking care of yourself, too. Socialize, skate, do the things you love, talk to people. Be engaged in life on the ship. You’ve spent so much time swallowed in your grief that you’ve lost sight of that spark that drew all of us toward you in the first place. We want to help you find it again.”

“What if I can’t find it?”

“You will,” Thriss said, giving her a squeeze before standing up and offering a hand. “It might not happen tomorrow, but you will. Now, come on, let’s get you to bed.”


	29. Chapter 29

Thriss exited Renetta’s quarters with a long sigh as she ran her fingers through her short, white hair. Koltak stood about a meter down the hall, fiddling with the seam of their jacket. The Andorian woman smirked.  
  
“First you started to talk like her, now you’re starting to act like her, messing with your clothes.”  
  
Koltak looked up, the frills on their head flattening back as they smiled tiredly. “Is she okay?”  
  
“She will be.”  
  
“Adding David back into the mix is going to be hard for her,” the Gliesian remarked as the two set off down the hall at a leisurely pace, headed nowhere in particular. “She still blames herself for what happened on that away mission.”  
  
“I imagine she will for quite some time. I’m proud of them both for being willing to confront it, though.”  
  
“Does she know David is applying for a department transfer?”  
  
Thriss shook her head. “I didn’t tell her. It didn’t seem like the right time.”  
  
“Someone ought to tell her before she sees him in blue.”  
  
“We can see how she’s doing in the morning after we visit sickbay. I at least got her to agree to that.”  
  
“That’s good.”  
  
The two took the turbolift to Deck Seven and made their way to the arboretum in introspective silence. It was late, and after the gala had petered out, most of the guests had gone straight to their quarters. As a result, the arboretum was deserted. Thriss took in a deep breath of the humid air.  
  
“I think what we all need is a vacation. Somewhere lush and vibrant.”  
  
“A change of scenery would be nice,” Koltak agreed.  
  
“Maybe we can put in a request for shore leave or something.”  
  
“Where would we take shore leave? We’re light-years away from Federation space,” Koltak pointed out.  
  
“There has to be _something_ out here.” Thriss reached up and picked a bright flower from one of the vines overhead. It smelled intoxicatingly sweet, particularly with the assistance of the true alcohol she’d had that evening. Thriss handed the flower to Koltak, who took it and observed it curiously, slowly turning it in their fingers.  
  
“Whatever is out there,” Thriss continued, “it’ll be new for all of us. New ranks, new work dynamics… Do you think Naazt will make me his new Number One, now that Johnson is, well…” Thriss made a face.  
  
“I don’t see why not,” Koltak said. “Maybe the rest of the science team will start to work with me instead of around me. Though, your situation seems more likely.”  
  
Thriss shrugged as they came back to the start of the looping path that wound through the gardens. “It’s late, we ought to get some rest. Thanks for walking with me. You’re a good listener, _Ensign_.”  
  
Koltak smiled and reached up to feel the new pip on their lapel. “I’ve learned from the best.”  
  
The two stepped out into the corridor and parted ways toward separate turbolifts to carry them in opposite directions. Thriss rode her lift to Deck Three, and walked quietly down the hall toward her room. She paused outside of David’s quarters and gave a small smile at the closed door before continuing to her own. It had been a long night and an even longer few months, but the road ahead was sure to be new and exciting, if not a little bumpy. As she turned off her lights and slid into bed, Thriss looked out at the dark expanse beyond her window. It was full of things more unknown than known. That “final frontier” was the driving force behind everything they did, and the mysteries of tomorrow were what kept them moving forward.  
  


**The adventures of the _USS Babel_ will continue in Season Two...**

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading Star Trek: Babel -- Season 1!
> 
> There will be a brief S2 E0 to recap the events of Season 1 and fill in the blanks before we delve headfirst into new territory. We'll be incorporating some new formatting in response to feedback, and there will be some retroactive changes to make the other episodes line up where possible. Sit tight for more Babel; we'll be back soon!


End file.
